There has been much talk lately about Planned Parenthood, the undercover videos, and federal funding. People are very passionate for good reasons on both sides of the argument making it easy to overlook the very valid and logical reasons this organization should be defunded. The evidence I state in this piece is not from the moral or emotional reasons why Planned Parenthood doesn’t need Federal funding. To anyone who believes that abortion is murder, those go without saying. Unfortunately, in the midst of the moral protest, people forget to see what is in plain sight.
On Tuesday in a congressional hearing, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood took an oath in front of congress to answer questions about the financial affairs of the company to determine if they really need federal funding in the amount of over $500 million. This “nonprofit” company that made 1.3 billion in revenue for the year claims it desperately needs federal funding to keep its doors open. Somehow it is able to pay Richards an estimated salary of $520 thousand a year. In addition, she also receives payments of around $31,000 thousand for her participation in the affiliate group Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which is a political lobbying group that that purses the hands of politicians in exchange for that same politician’s support and vote for Planned Parenthood’s causes and issues. Interestingly enough, records obtained by Opensecrets.org show that in 2012 and 2014, 100 percent of Planned Parenthood donations went to Democrats.
Though Richards claims that the Action Fund is a separate corporation, according to financial documents quoted by Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz during the hearing, Planned Parenthood has given this action fund an estimated $22 million over the years. He also showed that they share the same assets, employees, lists, and emails.
You may ask why is this important and why should I care? Every taxpayer should care because the money that is given to Planned Parenthood from the government frees up Planned Parenthood’s own money to lobby congress for their support. So what is wrong with that? How about the fact that it is a massive conflict of interest to give money to an organization that is going to turn around and give that money back in donations to further its cause? The money we as the American taxpayers give to this organization may not directly go to this fund, but the only real distinction is that it is listed on a different line in the financial ledger books shared with its parent organization.
It’s no surprise then that it is the Democrats who are digging their heels in while simultaneously burying their heads in the sand to keep funding Planned Parenthood. Several of those recipients of donations from Planned Parenthood were part of the hearing committee and called it a “war against women,” others going so far to call it misogyny.
I suppose that if you consider that a large part of the over 327,000 babies aborted by Planned Parenthood last year alone were female, then I agree this is indeed a war against women. However, if you think that taking away funding from a group that obviously can fund itself, then no, it’s not. How do we know it can fund itself? Well, all you have to do is to follow the money.
Once again, according to the financial documents quoted by Chaffetz, the organization racked up “exorbitant travel expenses,” include first-class flights, charter travel, and entertainment costs for $622,706 on parties with celebrity guests. The report listed some of the themed parties had names such as “Gathering of Goddesses and Gods,” and “Chocolate Champagne.” In addition, the report also details Planned Parenthood’s total of $5,109,997 on travel in 2013, as well as the fact that Planned Parenthood has several real estate holdings, including $34.8 million for its corporate office space near Madison Square Garden. In 2015, it sold a 72,000 square-foot condominium to Brookfield Property Partners for $69.6 million.
Why should you care? Because they don’t seem to be hurting for money. Planned Parenthood doesn’t need Federal funding.
This of course, is in addition to the millions of dollars they receive in donations from big wig foundations such as The Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation (Warren Buffet’s wife), which gave $230,915,706, or The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gave $14,521,748. These are only two of the foundations that give millions every year to Planned Parenthood. Still think they need federal funding to keep their doors open?
To be fair, the government doesn’t just write a check out in cash for the entire $500 million. They report that all but approx $60 million are reimbursements to Medicaid and Title X(ten) payments. These are payments to those with low incomes and those without the financial ability to pay for birth control out of their pockets. Don’t be misled, however, into believing that Planned Parenthood is some kind of charity organization. Far from it, it is not free to visit their clinics. Their fees are normal, but if you have no insurance and can prove by pay stubs that you cannot afford to pay full price, they will adjust the fee based on your income.
Times have changed, however, and now no one in the country should be without insurance thanks to Obamacare, which mandates that everyone has insurance. Those that make under a certain amount per year get it free. What is interesting to hear from those that support federal funding of Planned Parenthood is that they somehow believe that if Planned Parenthood does not get federal funding its doors will close and they will no longer be able to provide needed services to women. Testimony to Congress and documents, however, show that this is not the case at all.
There are literally thousands of other facilities, such as community health centers, that provide not only the same kinds of sliding scale payments but actually offer more types of health screening for women, such as actual mammograms.
Richards, in her sworn testimony to Congress, admitted that none of her over 600 clinics around the country performs mammograms. They can only refer them to other facilities. To be fair, Planned Parenthood does do breast exams, cancer screenings, STD screenings, and gives out free birth control to those who can’t afford it as mandated by the Title X(ten) subsidy. However, this doesn’t mean that they receive no payment for it. They pay as little as $3 for some forms of birth control. But according to documents referred to by Congress, they turn around and bill Medicaid up to $35. You don’t have to be a math scholar to figure out that they are making quite a bit on birth control reimbursements alone.
According to Planned Parenthood’s own records (here is the 2012-2013 annual report and the 2013-2014 annual report), these types of health care services have actually declined over the past few years, while their performed abortions have gone up. This is very troubling to a great number of people across the nation who do not support abortion and would rather have their tax money allocated to the other health facilities that do not perform abortions.
Richards constantly reiterates during her testimony that Planned Parenthood gives significant healthcare to thousands of women across the country and that only three percent of their total services provided are from abortions. They also claim that no federal funding is used for abortion services. You can say this all day until you are blue in the face, but again, the only real difference is how and where the money is recorded in a financial ledger. Money is money, and it’s really hard to separate once it is mixed.
Planned Parenthood does have expenses of course. They have the millions they pay their President and other employees, legal fees, parties, celebrity guests, travel expenses, real estate investing, and the maintenance of their facilities of course. Even after all these fees and expenses were paid, Richards confirmed in her sworn testimony that the organization still raked in $127 million dollars “in excess of revenue” last year. In case you didn’t know, excess revenue is a fancy way of saying “profit.”
Common sense and evidence show that this is not an organization that is hurting for money and desperately needs the U.S. taxpayers to fund it. For all these reasons and my belief that it is morally bankrupt, I believe that Planned Parenthood doesn’t need Federal funding, nor does it deserve it. I, for one, hope Congress does the right thing and reallocates these funds to organizations that actually need it.
Congressional hearings can be watched here.
Crystal, this is very well stated and argued. So many of the organizations that say they’d go under without federal funding are just playing with the figures and it’s not true. PBS is another example–Sesame Street is almost a billion dollar annual enterprise.
Thank-you Rich, I appreciate your kind comment. I do not believe that ANY of the Fat-Cat non-profit corporations should receive Federal Funding. There are so many better places that money could be used.
To quote Shakespeare, “The lady doth protest too much!”
.
Before I get to why, let me note that I am a dyed in the wool, card-carrying, Bernie Sanders loving liberal.
.
But I think Planned Parenthood should be defunded too … IF (and this is a really, really big “if”) we can extend your philosophy to the sacred cows of the right wing too.
.
Your argument is based entirely on money, and you lead off with the salary of Planned Parenthood’s President Cecile Richards: more than $500,000. (Actually, She was paid $427,597 last year — $590,928 if you include retirement contributions, bonuses and pay from affiliated organizations. But what’s a hundred thousand or so between friends. (Source NY Times – hyperlinks are not allowed in comments here.)
.
Our own Jason Chaffetz mentioned the Boy Scouts as a great organization. Their President is paid $916,027 and also receives federal money. (NY Times again – I love the Times!)
.
According to the Times, “Her salary is actually on the low side when it is compared with executive pay at other large nonprofits. When compared with the pay for hospital executives running nonprofit health care organizations of similar budgets, it is actually well below the norm.”
.
I’m not going to defend executive pay … it is what it is … but I will say that trying to make Ms. Richards’ pay into a hot button issue is simply a distortion and a diversion. Similarly, the other donations you quote are nowhere near the amount of revenue they receive from the government. You quibble about a $31,000 fee that Ms. Richards receives from an affiliate group. That is five percent of Ms. Richards salary! It seems fairly clear to me that you would scrape any scrap from the barrel to attack Ms. Richards.
.
“The lady doth protest too much!”
.
But lets get to the heart of the matter. In America today, virtually all health care is provided by “non-profit” organizations like hospitals. And as you cast your eyes over the Porsche’s and Mercedes in the hospital parking lot, you may laugh as long as you like about the term “non-profit”. (“ha” … That’s as much as I can manage before I start to cry.) Planned Parenthood is simply one more and they charge the government fee for service JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHERS. They give money to lobbying groups JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHERS. The only reason for singling them out is because YOU DON’T WANT WOMENT TO HAVE ACCESS TO ABORTIONS … and you’ll do and say anything to stop it. Climb off the “more pure than thou” soap box.
.
Like I wrote to begin with, “Planned Parenthood should be defunded.” It should be replaced by a single payer, completely government funded health care system that offers women control over their own reproductive choices. Like virtually all other developed countries in the world.
.
But then, that wouldn’t accomplish your real goal, would it?
Dan, I also appreciate your comments since it gives me a chance to further explain my point of view. I happen to think that ALL these ultra- rich corporations should be defunded. As to the dollar amount earned by Ms. Richards per year, I actually quoted what she said in her sworn testimony to congress. I guess she forgot how much she actually makes.
Of course I based this argument solely on the money aspect for this piece. I was trying to appeal to the logic and common sense of those who support Planned Parenthood just because. I learned a long time ago that it does not good to argue on moral grounds with those appear to be lacking in that area.
So glad to know that you Love the NY Times. However, they are Not necessarily fair and balanced and have admitted in the past of printing inaccuracies so I wouldn’t place all my trust in just what they say.
I mentioned Ms. Richards’s compensation from the affiliate lobbying group not because it is a huge amount, but that it shows the innate connection between PP, and the lobbying group that gives millions to try and sway the votes of congressmen. By the way, I believe that lobbying and giving money/gifts/trips and the like to congress to buy their vote should be against the law.
Your argument that every Non-Profit corporation does it so why not Planned Parenthood comes off sounding like a school child complaining that everyone else does it so why can’t I? That is NOT a valid reason as to why they should receive Federal Funding. As I said, They ALL should be defunded.
Yes it is NO secret that I do Not support abortion. I did state that at the beginning of the article. I DO NOT support PP because I happen to believe, along with millions of others in this country that butchering babies, and cutting them up like slabs of meat to the highest bidder is murder akin to Hitlerism in nature.
Please spare me the rhetoric that fetal tissue saves lives. The Ends does NOT justify the Means! And let’s start calling them what they really ARE: Babies, NOT parasites, NOT growths, NOT Fetal tissue. Calling it tissue only tries to sanitize what really is happening. Perhaps if Planned Parenthood described to the mothers how they are going to cut off arms and legs and dissect and remove the heart and liver and other organs trying not to crush bones so they can get a better price, these mothers might change their minds. They are living humans whose mother’s had a choice NOT to get pregnant either by using birth control, or showing some self-control. Rape or incest is a very small percentage of the reason as to why a woman gets an abortion. Most don’t want to be inconvenienced.
Planned Parenthood has shown in their videos that they have no respect for human life and are more concerned with getting that new Lamborghini than with actual family planning. Even PP own hired investigators admitted that the videos were NOT doctored; only edited for time etc. I suppose you think that the words coming out of their mouths in the undercover videos were not their real voices?
Do I protest too much? I think not!
Well … you’re still protesting. But at least I have suceeded in getting you out of your closet of pretending that it’s all a financial taxpayer ripoff and that your uncompromising hatred of a woman’s right to control her own reproduction isn’t the basis of your argument. The way your second swing at the issue devolved into the same sputtering arguments made your actual intentions more “Crystal” clear than anything I could have written.
.
And I’m glad to see that we have common ground in believing that corporations (“non-profit” or otherwise) should not have a role in politics. (So much for Romney’s “Corporations are people too!”)
.
In fact, I have concluded that there is only one factual issue left. (Your impassioned, but totally emotion based description of the now discredited film doesn’t need any response.) That’s the New York Times! I’ll put the “fair and balanced” credentials of the Times up against Chaffetz’s use of the witchhunt chart produced by the anti-choice Americans United for Life in his committee hearing any day.