By Jim Sedlak
Planned Parenthood is now out of the Title X program. What does that mean for Planned Parenthood’s finances, Planned Parenthood’s customers, and taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood? Let’s look at these one at a time:
Planned Parenthood’s finances
From an overall financial picture, losing $60 million dollars in federal funding will have little effect on Planned Parenthood. The organization reported a total income of $1.67 billion last year. The $60 million is 3.6 percent of its income. Planned Parenthood reported profits of $244.8 million last year. Thus, Planned Parenthood could keep doing all its Title X services for the next four years and still not use up its profits from last year.
Planned Parenthood’s customers
Planned Parenthood is making a lot of noise about the fact that 40 percent of people who receive services under the Title X program receive them from Planned Parenthood. But is that 40 percent a real number? Here are some facts:
- The government says Title X is a $287 million program. If Planned Parenthood got $60 million, that’s about 21 percent of the program funding.
- The government says there are about 4,000 clinics that receive Title X funding.
- Both Planned Parenthood and the government agree that Planned Parenthood operates only 400 (10 percent) of those Title X clinics.
- The government says that Title X serves about 4.0 million people. Planned Parenthood claims it serves 40 percent (1.6 million) of those people.
On the surface, Planned Parenthood’s claim of serving 40 percent of the people while operating 10 percent of the clinics and receiving just 21 percent of the funding does not ring true. It may be possible that the 40 percent was calculated by the same number-crunchers that insist abortion is only three percent of Planned Parenthood’s services.
The Kaiser Family Foundation looked at the facts of what percentage of Title X clinics are either run by Planned Parenthood or other abortion providers. The KFF numbers are very revealing. The following states have the indicated percentage of PP Title X clinics:
Zero = NV, ND, SD, WY, NE, NM, TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL, TN, KY, HI, SC
1% to 4% = FL, GA, VA, WV, KS, CO, ID, NC, DC
6% to 9% = RI, MO, MA, OR
10% to 15% = DE, MD, PA, IN, IL, IO, WI, AZ
16% to 20% = OH, MI, MT
25% to 33% = CA, NY, NH
34% to 42% = WA, MN, ME, CT, NJ
67% = AK
88% = UT
100% = VT
KFF shows that 16 states do not have a single Title X clinic that is run by PP. In another 13 states, less than 10 percent of the Title X clinics are run by PP. That’s a majority (29) of the states where Planned Parenthood’s exit from the Title X program will have zero, or a very small, impact. The only states to see a major impact from Planned Parenthood’s departure will be Alaska, Vermont, and Utah—states that have allowed PP to dominate the Title X industry.
One interesting observation is that the state of Maryland has been very vocal in its outcry against the new rules. Yet, the data shows that only 10 percent of its Title X clinics will be affected.
Bottom line, there will be minimum impact on customers, except in Alaska, Utah, and Vermont.
Planned Parenthood taxpayer funding
From a dollar and cents point of view, the loss of these funds will mean that Planned Parenthood’s income from taxpayers’ funds has been cut by 10.6 percent. Clearly, not a crushing blow. With a number of states saying that they will increase state money to Planned Parenthood, the final impact will be hardly noticeable.
However, we cannot underestimate the tremendous psychological impact to those fighting Planned Parenthood that this reduction in funding will have. There are many who thought this day would never come. A large number of people opposed to Planned Parenthood are holding their breath as they await the outcome of Planned Parenthood’s continuing legal challenges. Bottom line – Planned Parenthood is vulnerable!
And, Planned Parenthood is beginning to recognize the same vulnerability.
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.