Planned Parenthood deserves U.S. investigation

For years, Planned Parenthood, a woman’s nonprofit health care provider, with 840 health centers in America, has enjoyed an exalted status partly because of a simpatico relationship with tycoons and the Hollywood elites. George Soros has now come under the spotlight from many different sources around the country, and many are wondering if PP will survive.

Part of the problem for Planned Parenthood is that even though they claim that only 3 percent of their funding goes toward abortion, the facts don’t seem to agree. They are in fact the largest abortion provider in America, and no one is close to them (329,445 abortions in 2010 — the latest published figures). While abortions in America have been trending down in recent years, PP abortions keep rising. Currently PP does one in every four abortions in America.

One of the biggest problems is that they are the largest recipient of Title X funding (family planning and health for low-income women) in the whole country, and the latest figures show they are receiving $482 million in tax dollars from our government. That’s 46 percent of their total revenue.

There are literally thousands of clinics across the country, other than PP, that receive federal funding and offer as good or better health services for low-income woman and don’t perform abortions. The statistics are clear: 98 percent of pregnant woman walking into a Planned Parenthood Clinic are sold abortions while less than 2 percent of pregnant woman receive non-abortion services including adoption and prenatal services. Abortions outnumbered adoptions at Planned Parenthood in 2010 by a 395 to 1 margin yet PP claims only 3 percent of its revenue goes to abortion. Some may believe this, but that’s exactly why the U.S. Congress has Planned Parenthood under investigation for possible misuse of tax dollars.

Larry O’Neill

Palatine