By Jim Sedlak
On February 1, 2019, Planned Parenthood announced the apparent merging of two of its affiliates. Mergers are nothing new for Planned Parenthood. It has gone from 191 affiliates in 1991 to 54 at the end of last year, almost exclusively through mergers. But there is something different about this one.
First, Planned Parenthood is not calling it a merger. It is referring to it as a “strategic alliance.” The strategic alliance is between Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky and Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands. As this strategic alliance took place, the CEO of PPGNHI, Christine Charbonneau, also became the CEO of PPINK.
The following are excerpts from Planned Parenthood’s Feb. 1, 2019, official announcement:
Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands (PPGNHI) announced today an agreement signed to create a strategic alliance with Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK). This alliance will strengthen Planned Parenthood’s mission to deliver quality reproductive health care, education, and advocacy in the six states the organizations now serve.
The top priority for each organization is to deliver timely, affordable, and expert health care and education to the patients and communities Planned Parenthood serves. With a commitment to a shared mission, this alliance will allow both organizations to share expertise and best practices, streamline processes, expand professional development opportunities for employees, and consolidate resources in order to improve experiences for the patients and staff of both entities.
Through this alliance, these two Planned Parenthood affiliated entities will operate 45 health centers combined across Indiana, Kentucky, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, and western Washington. Collectively, the organizations will serve over 164,000 patients each year with comprehensive, inclusive sexual and reproductive health care.
The announcement also contained the following statement from Christine Charbonneau:
Each year, Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country undergo changes as part of a normal process of evaluating and enhancing efficient health care delivery for patients—as do health care providers of all kinds.
In a shifting health care landscape, both organizations are taking a thoughtful approach to integration and innovation by entering into a strategic alliance, whereby PPGNHI will become the parent organization of PPINK. This alliance will strengthen Planned Parenthood’s ability to continue to provide access to high-quality health care, promote comprehensive, inclusive sex education, and advocate for reproductive rights in both states for years to come.
Comment
This official statement sounds so nice—more healthcare for more women. However, when you begin reading newspaper accounts of further statements by Charbonneau and others, a new picture begins to emerge.
A Louisville Courier Journal article reports that the alliance is being done
“to better fend off attacks from conservative lawmakers and governors.”
PPINK is joining forces with PPGNHI so that it will have more money and legal muscle to fight “unrelenting attempts to undo constitutionally protected rights.” Charbonneau was reported as saying
“the merger is part of a conscious effort of affiliates in blue states to help patients and organizations in states that are less hospitable to reproductive freedom.”
She added:
“Attempts to undermine our organization will be met with fierce resistance on our part. . . . We felt it was important to help the mission of Planned Parenthood everywhere, not just in our neighborhood. We have a big bank balance.”
According to the Courier Journal, “Kim Greene, the former chairwoman of [PPINK], called the alliance ‘fantastic,’ saying it will ‘enable us to strengthen and expand our services in Kentucky.’ Greene will serve on the board of the merged organization.”
The Toronto City News reports that
“Charbonneau says the arrangement will also help fund legal challenges to abortion restrictions in the two states.”
A writer for the Topeka Capital-Journal wrote:
Chris Charbonneau, the CEO of [PPGNHI], said her group has an annual budget of about $70 million. She said its donors wanted to help [PPINK]. In recent years, [PPINK] has faced the legal costs of challenging far-reaching limits on abortion rights sought by Republican lawmakers in both states—including a proposed bill before Kentucky’s Legislature that would ban abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
“They feel like other parts of the country have a tougher row to hoe and they’re looking forward to supporting this effort,” Charbonneau said of the donors. “The political environments in Indiana and Kentucky have been particularly oppressive.”
Bottom line
This strategic alliance is not really about what we would call “healthcare.” It is really about rich Planned Parenthood affiliates who get a lot of taxpayer funds taking over smaller affiliates for the express purpose of exerting political muscle and forcing more abortions in the more conservative states.
PPGNHI runs 27 facilities in four states and 26 do surgical or medical abortions. PPINK runs 18 facilities in two states and four do surgical or medical abortions. The real purpose of this “strategic alliance” is to get more abortion facilities operated by Planned Parenthood in Kentucky and Indiana.
Residents of both the Hoosier and Bluegrass states need to be worried about this strategic alliance. You are all now in the crosshairs of the nation’s most prolific murderer—Planned Parenthood.
If this first-of-its-kind strategic alliance proves successful for Planned Parenthood, you can bet we will be seeing more “strategic alliances” erupt in other life-affirming states in the coming years.
Jim Sedlak is executive director of American Life League, founder of STOPP International, and host of a weekly talk show on the Radio Maria Network. He has been successfully fighting Planned Parenthood since 1985.