by Melanie Israel
This month, Planned Parenthood Federation of America quietly released its 2019-20 annual report to little fanfare.
Like previous years, both the total number of abortions as well as taxpayer funding increased. Meanwhile, the amount of private funding and active individual contributors decreased—the latter dramatically so.
The organization’s super PAC spent $45 million during the 2020 elections. Now, Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby are aggressively working to influence Congress and the Biden administration’s agenda.
Their legislative goals include: taxpayer funding for elective abortions, gutting existing religious freedom and conscience protections, and promoting a radical sexual orientation and gender identity orthodoxy.
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Planned Parenthood’s focus on federal policy is not surprising given the significant investment it routinely makes during election cycles. And while those efforts make headlines, the data and information in annual reports deserve scrutiny and analysis as well.
The medical and financial data provides a revealing display of the organization’s priorities.
Medical data in the 2019-20 annual report actually covers the period from Oct. 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2019. Planned Parenthood reported:
- 354,871 abortions, up from 345,672 the previous year.
- 542,659 breast screenings and pap tests, down from 566,186 the previous year.
- 208,248 well woman exams, down from 213,042 the previous year.
- 2,667 adoption referrals, a significant decline from 4,279 the previous year.
Financial data in the 2019-20 annual report covers the period from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. Planned Parenthood reported:
- More than $2 billion in net assets, up from $1.9 billion the previous year.
- $618.1 million in government funding, up from $616.8 million the previous year.
- While total revenue held steady at roughly $1.6 billion, the organization’s excess revenue (calculated by subtracting total expenses from total revenue) fell sharply, coming in at $69.7 million compared to more than $110 million the previous year.
- $510 million in private funding, down from $591.3 million the previous year.
- 590,000 active individual contributors, a significant drop from the 1.1 million reported the previous year.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute notes that over the last decade, Planned Parenthood performed roughly 129 abortions for every adoption referral.
The institute—which is the research arm of the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life organization—also highlights that in the last decade, cancer screening and prevention services have decreased 63%, prenatal services have decreased 79%, and the number of unique patients has decreased 20%.
Planned Parenthood’s annual report also highlights its work in other areas, such as standing with the “Defund the Police” movement and efforts to oppose other Trump administration priorities, such as judicial nominations and policies related to immigration law.
In the 2019-20 annual report, Planned Parenthood reports that it operates “more than 200 health centers in 31 states providing hormone therapy for transgender patients.” In the previous annual report, Planned Parenthood listed 31 states but didn’t say how many clinics.
As of February 2021, the Planned Parenthood website lists clinics in 33 states as well as the District of Columbia as places people may seek cross-sex hormones to “affirm gender identity.” As previously reported at The Daily Signal, Planned Parenthood is one of the nationwide leaders in providing such services.
Abigail Shrier, author of “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” recently wrote about Planned Parenthood’s increasing footprint in the transgender space based on a firsthand account of a former “reproductive health assistant.”
The former clinic worker said that “trans identifying kids are cash cows, and they are kept on the hook for the foreseeable future in terms of follow-up appointments, bloodwork, meetings, etc., whereas abortions are (hopefully) a one-and-done situation.”
Shrier’s piece concludes:
According to the Planned Parenthood employee’s testimony, in affirmative care clinics like this one, for teens seeking fast medical transition—the medicine cabinet is fully stocked, the customer is always right, and the light is always green.
Planned Parenthood’s annual reports have long provided the pro-life movement with an opportunity to analyze the organization’s latest medical and financial data. It’s clear that Planned Parenthood has staked a claim in yet another controversial area of services, and going forward, the organization’s involvement in the gender identity space merits closer scrutiny.
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Melanie Israel is a research associate for the DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.
Photo “Planned Parenthood Building” by Fibonacci Blue. CC BY 2.0.
