Planned Parenthood's Annual Report Shows that 2005-06 was a Good Year for the Organization

Donations and income from abortions may have been down, but the annual report of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) for 2005-06 showed high profits for the organization, the largest abortion provider in the United States.

According to a CNS News report, posted on CNSNews.com, PPFA performed 264,943 abortions (a record), had a profit of $55.8 million and received taxpayer funding of $305.3 million from a combination of federal, state, and local governments.

CNS News attempted to contact the organization for comments on income and profits, but calls were not returned. According to CNS, the PPFA website says the "report illustrates the achievements of an organization funded to prevent unintended pregnancy and protect women's health and safety." The report noted the increasing attacks on a woman's sexual and reproductive rights.

Jim Sedlak, executive director of Stop Planned Parenthood, told CNS that taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood needs to be stopped. Although he admitted it was a good year for PPFA, he also noted that there are potential troubles ahead for the organization. For example, PPFA had their first decline in abortion income-down $1.5 million from the previous year-in the history of the organization. Donations were also down. Taxpayer funding, however, was up 12% over the previous year. Sedlak, in referring to the taxpayer funding, told CNS, "The bottom line is that Planned Parenthood is losing donations, its clinic income is down, and you and I are being forced to pay more so the organization can kill our children through abortion and spread its perverted ideology throughout the land."

CNS says that in an earlier report it had noted the financial struggles of PPFA. Sedlak said that it was only because of taxpayer funding that PPFA was able to avoid an overall decline in income.

Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, noted that while PPFA had reported adoption referrals in previous years, none were reported for 2005-06 period. Sedlak of Stop Planned Parenthood interpreted the lack of a figure in the current report as being an attempt to avoid the embarrassment over a low number of such referrals.

PPFA President Cecile Richards defended the taxpayer funding of the organization, saying that "Currently, more than 17 million women in the U.S. need publicly-funded family planning services, and there is not enough funding to meet the need. Nearly 750,000 teenagers in the U.S. will become pregnant this year."

Sources:

www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp
www.cnsnews.com/SpecialReports/archive/200501/SPE20050118a.html