Planned Parenthood

"It is known that having a full-term pregnancy early in a woman's childbearing years is protective against breast cancer....Interruption during the first trimester of a first pregnancy causes a cessation of cell differentiation, which may result in a subsequent increase in the risk of cancerous growth in these tissues." [Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. Web site, "Abortion and Breast Cancer: The Issues" 3 (visited Sep. 5, 1997) http://www.igc.apc.org/ppfa/ab-breas.html]

"They don't care what science says. It's like talking to the Flat Earth Society." [Claudia Stravato, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle, discussing a bill with a Los Angeles Times reporter which was passed by the Texas legislature requiring doctors to inform women procuring an abortion of an increased risk of breast cancer, May 22, 2003]

New Information: Women's group lauds abortion-breast cancer suit against Planned Parenthood. August 17, 2001 (Press Release)

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the nation's oldest and largest abortion provider, is an organization which is supported by U.S. taxpayers. For this reason, it is the most well funded abortion provider in the nation. In the period from 1987 until 1998, Planned Parenthood received a total of $1.4 billion in taxpayer money, according to Stop Planned Parenthood International (STOPP). PPFA received $176.5 million in government grants and contracts in the period between 1998-99, roughly 75% of which (or $132.4 million) originated from the federal government’s Title X and Title XIX programs. Forty-four million dollars was provided by state and local governments. 

PPFA provided 1,939,039 abortions between the years 1977 and 1995. PPFA’s 1998-99 Annual Report reported that it provided 167,928 abortions in 1998 and 165,174 abortions in 1997. PPFA grossed $60 million in sales of the abortifacient Pill in the period 1997-98, and $45 million of that figure represented its net profit.

PPFA’s total revenue at the end of the 1999 fiscal year was $660.7 million. With its expenses reported at $534.9 million, the abortion provider reported a total profit of $125.8 million. Assets were reported at a cool $536.3 million for this “non-profit” organization.

PPFA receives financial support from many millionaires, corporations and foundations, including the Rockefeller, Ford and Carnegie foundations and billionaire investor Warren Buffet’s foundation. 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) $8.8 million in 2000. Contact Bill and Melinda Gates and politely explain to them that they are contributing to the rising breast cancer rates. Ask them to stop funding abortion through their foundation. The foundation and the Gates can be reached at: 

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
P.O. Box 23350
Seattle, WA 98102
Phone: (206) 709-3100
Email: info [at] gatesfoundation.org
www.gatesfoundation.org

Mr. and Mrs. Bill Gates
1835 73rd Avenue, N.E.
Medina, WA 98039

Some of the corporations, which have given money to Planned Parenthood include: eBay (PayPal), AlphaGraphics, Wells Fargo (including Wachovia), Nike, Time Warner (HBO, AOL, etc.), Bank of America, Walt Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Lost Arrow (Patagonia, etc.), Chevron, and Nationwide Insurance, and Sonic (restaurants), among others. For a complete list of donors and their addresses, see the Life Decisions International web site at: http://fightpp.org.

WHAT DOES PLANNED PARENTHOOD SAY ABOUT THE RESEARCH? 

Planned Parenthood has made a number of statements about the abortion-breast cancer link. The following statement has appeared on Planned Parenthood's website:

The possible link between induced abortion and breast cancer is a theory whose principal promoters oppose abortion regardless of its safety. The theory awaits conclusive confirmation by medical researchers. While Planned Parenthood believes that women should have access to information about all factors that influence the risk of disease, PPFA also believes that women deserve information that is medically substantiated and untainted by a political agenda. Because the research community has not reached a consensus on breast cancer and abortion, Planned Parenthood advises women who are considering terminating a pregnancy that there is no currently demonstrated health risk from abortion that would warrant basing a decision on that factor alone. {Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., "Abortion and Breast Cancer: The Issues" 3 (visited Sep. 5, 1997) < http://www.igc.apc.org/ppfa/ab-breas.html >}.

Planned Parenthood says that it "awaits conclusive confirmation" of the abortion-breast cancer link before it will inform women of the available studies. However, science cannot prove causation without performing unethical experiments on women. Induced abortion is rarely a life-or-death procedure. On the contrary, it is predominantly an elective surgical procedure. How many thousands more women will unwittingly risk a deadly disease because Planned Parenthood has not yet determined that it has “conclusive confirmation” of the abortion-breast cancer link?

The web site revealed that PPFA does recognize the possibility of an association between abortion and breast cancer. It explained the biological reasons for the abortion-breast cancer link:

Reproductive factors have been associated with risk for the disease since the 17th century . . . . It is known that having a full-term pregnancy early in a woman's childbearing years is protective against breast cancer . .. .. . The theory behind a possible link between pregnancy termination and breast cancer is based on the hormonal disruption that occurs when a woman's pregnancy is interrupted. Pregnancy initiates a surge of sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin), which leads to differentiation of the cells in the breast glands in preparation for lactation. The changing concentrations of hormones during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy lead to increased differentiation. In a first pregnancy, the results of these hormonal changes permanently alter the structure of the breast. Interruption during the first trimester of a first pregnancy causes a cessation of cell differentiation, which may result in a subsequent increase in the risk of cancerous growth in these tissues. {Id}.

On November 1, 1994 at a time when there were more than two dozen studies available which showed an association between induced abortion and breast cancer, NBC's news program, Dateline, interviewed the president of Planned Parenthood at that time, Pamela Maraldo, to discuss Planned Parenthood's informed consent policy. The following conversation took place between Maraldo and the reporter:

Reporter: "If indeed your panel of medical experts studies this study by Dr. Daling and you find it to be solid good science, what are the chances you will begin warning women about this possible link?”

Maraldo: "Even if it's solid good science, then to begin to warn women, and upset women, on the basis of one study is clearly irresponsible. One study is not an adequate, uh, uh -- evidence for us to change a policy, or -- or to upset or frighten women."

Reporter: "Five studies -- say you have five studies?"

Maraldo: "Well I think we're a long ways away from that."

Why is Planned Parenthood excluding women from this debate about their health? An increased risk of breast cancer would undoubtedly impact the decision making process for many women considering an abortion. Withholding vital information, which is needed to make an informed choice about health matters, is paternalistic censorship. Women have a right to know all of the risks associated with induced abortion.