By Jim Sedlak
Planned Parenthood Federation of America released its 2016-2017 Annual Report on December 30, 2017.
The 44-page report is filled with numbers—both financial and service. In this article we will look at the financial numbers in the report. These numbers reveal an organization that is in the process of changing its entire business model.
First, we note that Planned Parenthood had a banner financial year. It reported an all-time record annual income of $1.46 billion. The fact that the organization had an increase in income is not surprising; however, the way it achieved this increase is a real game-changer—if the new income stream can be sustained in years to come.
As we reported earlier in our 2017 Planned Parenthood Facilities Report, Planned Parenthood has been closing its medical centers at a record pace and now has just 597 locations. In the new annual report, Planned Parenthood reports that its income from its medical clinics did not rise at all. Despite this fact, Planned Parenthood reported a profit of $98.5 million—the fifth highest profit in its history.
The quick answer is that it must have done more abortions. But that is not so. In fact, Planned Parenthood committed 321,384 medical and surgical abortions (7,000 less than the year before).
So, where did these record income and near-record profits come from? From donations!
For the last couple of years, we’ve been reading how politicians and Hollywood stars are all giving money to Planned Parenthood. Lots of rich people giving lots of cash. Well, it’s not just the rich people. Many thousands of regular individuals across the country have been taken in by Planned Parenthood’s sob stories and have given their hard-earned cash to the organization.
Just three years ago, Planned Parenthood reported donations of $391.8 million along with taxpayer funding of $528.4 million and other clinic income of $305.3 million. This year those numbers changed dramatically. The latest Planned Parenthood annual report states that its major income came from:
Donations: $532.7 million (38%)
Government funding: $543.7 million (39%)
Non-government clinic income: $318.1 million (23%)
Over the last three years, Planned Parenthood successfully cried wolf loud enough that people all across the country increased its donation income by 36 percent! At this point, Planned Parenthood’s donation income is only $11 million behind its taxpayer income. And, it has received this huge donation increase while closing clinic after clinic after clinic.
Planned Parenthood reports that, over the last three years, it has almost tripled its donor list. It went from 584,000 donors in June 2014 to 1,403,000 in June 2017. This was done deliberately by Planned Parenthood to broaden its base and to try to ensure its future.
While government funding of Planned Parenthood is still the largest part of its income and needs to be stopped, the numbers in this year’s annual report show that a government defunding may not be sufficient to close down the organization. We need to stop our friends and neighbors from giving money to PP.
In 2018, you can expect to see renewed emphasis on educating the general public on the real nature of Planned Parenthood. Much of the education in recent years has been focused on elected officials with an aim to end government funding. But that effort has dragged on so long that Planned Parenthood has had time to expand its donor base to the point that we expect that its donations in next year’s annual report will surpass its government funding. We must take action, and that action must be in the form of education of the public on the nature of Planned Parenthood.
How many of your friends and neighbors, for example, know that Planned Parenthood is responsible for keeping pornography on the Internet in the United States? How many of your local clergy understand that Planned Parenthood works very hard to get the young people in their congregation to abandon the church and live lives of sexual sin? How many of your neighbors and parents know that, when Planned Parenthood talks about providing “transgender services” those services include puberty suppression drugs for young people (if PP can convince their parents to accept the drugs as good for the kids)?
A review of Planned Parenthood’s financial numbers shows that the pro-life community must use every means possible to educate the general population on the true nature of Planned Parenthood. Here, at American Life League’s STOPP program, we will increase our educational efforts, and we invite all national, state, and local pro-life groups to join us in this effort.
Jim Sedlak is executive director of American Life League, founder of STOPP International, and host of a radio show on the Radio Maria Network. He has been successfully fighting Planned Parenthood since 1985.