Is Planned Parenthood on the ropes?

By Iowans for LIFE
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland is being absorbed by a larger affiliate in Minnesota and the Dakotas according to the Des Moines Register. The Iowa PP president, Suzanna de Baca, is stepping down, and Iowa operations will be directed from Minnesota. Is this a sign that Planned Parenthood is on the ropes?

Iowans for LIFE’S Executive Director, Maggie DeWitte, addressed the question with this quote. It appeared in the Star Tribune out of Minneapolis:

“Look at schools. Why do they consolidate? Because they don’t have enough students to fill a classroom. I think the same thing is happening with the Planned Parenthood clinics.”

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland closes 14 abortion clinics

As recently as 2012, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland operated 22 brick and mortar clinics in Iowa. The number fell to just eight last year. Like most of the country, Iowans are becoming increasingly pro-life, which is reflected in recent legislation.

Last year’s legislature passed the twenty week bill, which bans abortion at the point when a pre-born person can feel the pain of abortion.

This year, the legislature went further with passage of The Heartbeat Bill which bans abortion at the point when a heartbeat is detected.

Even more, they cut $2 million of Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, redirecting it to clinics that provide authentic reproductive health care.

All of this has taken a toll on Planned Parenthood of the Heartland at the state level.

National conditions are worse for abortion providers

If anything, conditions are worse at the national level for providers of human abortion. Yesterday, President Trump cut $60 million of Title X funds from Planned Parenthood. It will go into effect in sixty days.

But the problem for Planned Parenthood isn’t just the government. Their customers are giving them fits, too: They’re having fewer abortions. This is a huge problem for an organization whose fiscal health thrives on the backs of dead babies.

Planned Parenthood downsized authentic women’s reproductive healthcare under Cecile Richards

Under Cecile Richard’s tenure as CEO of Planned Parenthood, the organization doubled down on their abortion business at the expense of legitimate women’s reproductive healthcare.

Since her first year on the job in 2006, PP experienced a 23% decline in patient visits at the same time that abortions increased by 11 percent. What is striking about this number is that the national abortion rate sharply declined at the same time Planned Parenthood’s abortion business was rising. In other words, they provided more abortions but less authentic healthcare.

Abortion rate plunges

From 1981 to the present, the national abortion rate plunged 46.6 percent. According to Planned Parenthood partner, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the abortion rate peaked at 29.3 human abortions per one thousand women in 1981 declining to 14.6 by 2014.

But at the same time that a growing number of Planned Parenthood’s customers were getting sickened at the thought of aborting their baby, PP backed away from authentic healthcare for these women. For example, the number of cancer screenings performed at PP dropped every year that Richards was president, with 200 percent more screenings taking place in 2006 than in 2017.

Planned Parenthood has another problem: the number of women having an abortion for the first time is dropping. This reflects the growing pro-life sentiments of younger women. So where is PP picking up the slack? With more abortions from repeat customers. But as these women age out of their fertile years, PP will be forced to find new revenue sources.

Planned Parenthood has formidable resources

So, is Planned Parenthood on the ropes? Probably not. They have tremendous political and financial clout.

The Democratic Party has made it a litmus test for their candidates to support public funding of human abortion specifically as well as any pro abortion legislation generally.

Iowans for LIFE knows they don’t reflect the pro-life leanings of a lot of rank and file Democrats. But for now, at least, one political party is in the tank for Planned Parenthood.

That much power and cash is formidable.

The courts are a huge factor

The courts also have a big role to play in Planned Parenthood’s future. The current president seems to be appointing more judges concerned with the original intent of  the Constitution. But there are eight years of liberal judges appointed by President Obama who tend to favor abortion rights over the rights of the pre-born.

A word of caution. Yes, Planned Parenthood of the Heartlands has closed 14 clinics in Iowa in the past six years. This simply confirms that the clinics are not really about women’s reproductive healthcare. But they are picking up the slack with tele-med abortions.

The risk of tele-med abortions

Nobody knows for sure how many at-risk teenage girls get Planned Parenthood’s free app.

Nobody knows for sure how many order the RU-486 Abortion Pill on this app without their parents’ knowledge.

And nobody knows for sure how many of these girls abort their baby in the family toilet, thanks to the availability of the Abortion Pill from Planned Parenthood’s app.

That kind of data just isn’t available.

Iowans for LIFE cautiously joins the rest of the pro-life community in celebrating the downsizing of Planned Parenthood  of the Heartland within our Iowa borders.

But let’s get real: our work is just beginning. If current trends continue, human abortion will take the lives of 30,000 more Iowa babies over the next decade. And that just counts surgical abortions.

We need your help more than ever.

[Thanks to Iowans for LIFE for permission to publish their post. How can you help? Begin with prayer. Attend their banquet. Attend their Social Justice Creed symposium. Donate.]