Should organizations that receive sizable grants from the federal government be permitted to use those grants to undermine and oppose United States policy abroad?Would you consider this offense to be even more egregious if this opposition coincided with a drive for increased profits? To exacerbate matters, the worldwide expansion of Internet access and globalization amplify the influence of these organizations as they work counter to official U.S. policy.
The actions of Planned Parenthood are a good case in point. The organization’s 2005-2006 Annual Report shows it received $305-million in government contracts and grants. While accepting these funds, Planned Parenthood has actively opposed the ABC program in Africa that promotes abstinence first in fighting HIV/AIDS. This opposition flies directly in the face of official U.S. policy in this area.
Let me point you to a comment that sums up the U.S. government’s financial commitment to the ABC program, referred to by the Bush administration as PEPFAR (Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). “Assuming Congress meets the President’s request for Fiscal Year 2008, and with the new $30 billion proposal, the American people will have committed $48.3 billion across 10 years to fight HIV/AIDS.”
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood Federation of America-International states staunch opposition to this policy on its web site. “The United States has contributed an unprecedented level of funding to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. However, U.S. funds are increasingly tied to ideologically based restrictions that make abstinence the centerpiece of HIV prevention and which are undermining critical prevention strategies.”
To add emphasis to this opposition, federal money helps enable Planned Parenthood to offer financial incentives to those who support their agenda abroad. According to their 2005-2006 Annual Report, Planned Parenthood “provided nearly $2.5 million in direct financial assistance to 51 local NGOs in 23 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.”
Planned Parenthood also uses federal grants and contracts to market abortion services in Asia (Annual Report, p.13) thereby increasing their profits. This comment from Melanie Mitroff with Concerned Women for America: “On top of its $63 million profit, Planned Parenthood last year (2004-2005) received its largest sum of state and federal taxpayer funding ever: $272.7 million, making Planned Parenthood the recipient of $3.9 billion of taxpayer money since 1987.”
In conclusion, Planned Parenthood is using large sums of U.S. money to undermine U.S. policy abroad and bolster already significant profits. While Planned Parenthood or any American organization has the right to oppose U.S. programs and increase profits, should these groups be permitted to use federal money and grants/contracts as a springboard to do so?
My Biggest Fears on this Issue
1. That ideology will eclipse science in this area.
2. That open discussion on the merits of this issue will be considered off-limits because of political correctness.
3. That a proven solution to the problem of HIV/AIDS will be reduced to a topic of ridicule and largely ignored.
4. That our nation-and consequently those countries we influence-will have to go back to the failed condom-based sex education of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s before discovering once again that this approach is ineffective.
5. That our country would abandon any emphasis on the importance of sex as a sacred and special act that functions best as an integral part of the marriage bond.
Some Web Resources for More Information on this Issue
1. Concerned Women For America has several articles on Planned Parenthood and their influence. The article, “Planned Parenthood Reports Record Profits, Abortions Performed” has a good analysis of a recent Planned Parenthood Annual Report.
2. Planned Parenthood Federation of America-International’s Annual Report is interesting reading. Many people don’t understand exactly how pro-abortion this organization is and how it takes that fight all over the world. It’s chilling to think that an organization that has been entrusted with billions of dollars in government grants/contracts to education people all over the world on sexuality issues, has so much to gain from encouraging abortions. Find the Annual Report by going to their About Us page and clicking on Annual Report (pdf).
3. Despite all the screaming you may be hearing about the vast amount of money being “wasted” on teaching abstinence education, this funding is a drop in the bucket compared to the funds that go to teach condom-based “Comprehensive Sexuality Education.” (It is estimated that $1 is spent on abstinence education to every $12 spent on condom-based sex education.) This article from the Heritage Foundation provides an extensive list of the ways that this ideology is saturating our society in so many ways.
4. This Heritage Foundation article (http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ED011896b.cfm) discusses previous attempts to ban any “special-interest group that engages in lobbying or political activity” from being subsidized by taxpayers. This was found to be illegal in principle when a law prohibiting such activity was enacted in 1996. But according to this article, a huge loophole was left open that allows some groups to continue this questionable practice.
5. There is an official web site on the ABC/PEPFAR program with quotes and updates and stats. This is valuable because you get the official line on the programs. Then, you can compare those stats with the information you get elsewhere.
6. STOPP International is an organization that has as it’s sole reason for existence the de-funding of Planned Parenthood. I recommend this web site because it is one of the few that will opening challenge Planned Parenthood and it’s mission. Many smaller non-profits are concerned with drawing the ire of this mammoth organization and so refuse to “name names” in regards to it. STOPP has no such timidity.
Recommendations for Sensible Solutions
1. It is a gross conflict of interest for Planned Parenthood to be entrusted by the U.S. government-and many state governments-with providing sexuality education that is supposed to provide unbiased information on the healthiest choices surrounding sexuality. Planned Parenthood is the nation’s and world’s largest abortion provider and has a financial interest in promoting an ideology and lifestyle that would make abortion commonplace and more prevalent. It could be argued that this financial stake would tempt Planned Parenthood to cast unrestrained sexuality and abortion in a favorable light despite what scientific evidence there might be to the contrary. Therefore, I would recommend that Planned Parenthood either get out of the abortion business or divest itself of any federal sex education monies.
2. While the above recommendation is being debated, it would seem reasonable to prohibit Planned Parenthood, and any other organizations that receive federal funds, from actively lobbying counter to official U.S. policy.
What do you think? I’d love to know. Please take few moments to post your reply in the box below. Let’s talk!
November 2, 2007 at 9:12 am
[...] AIDS Epidemic Tracy Griggs posted a blog condemning organizations that receive U.S. grant money and yet do not support U.S. [...]
November 2, 2007 at 11:35 am
It’s amazing to me how an organization like Planned Perenthood can become so economically committed to their agenda that they take a firm stand against the attempts of the U.S. to offer genuine assistance to fight HIV/AIDS. I appreciate your thorough, non-emotional style, analysis and linked verification of your statements.
November 2, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Planned Parenthood is a political social engineering machine that should NOT be funded by the US government. If they are so committed to women’s health let them raise their own money from Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. But I have NO interest in helping fund this anti-child organization. Planned Parenthood is like Grape Nuts: it is neither planned nor parenthood.
November 2, 2007 at 3:19 pm
I applaud Mrs. Griggs for taking on Planned Parenthood in this article. As a taxpayer it appalls me to see what some of our hard earned and domestically needed resources are spent on at times. It we want to make a difference in Africa then providing immunizations for diseases and distributing chemically treated mosquito netting in malaria infested regions of subsaharan Africa would be a much better expenditure of resources than funding Planned Parenthood grants here in the US. Malaria kills more people in that region of the world than HIV/AIDS does. I do not mean to belittle the HIV/AIDS problem at all. It is horrendous. But as “Lisa’s Look” points out, changing human sexual behavior is difficult (especially when organizations like Planned Parenthood teach people that they cannot control their sexual appetites) and it will be much easier to get a culture to use a mosquito net than it will to get them use a condom. It amazes me that Planned Parenthood would have us believe that condoms are a cure all for this problem. They are not. Condoms only work when worn and then the failure rate is significant. The bottom line is that Planned Parenthood is a money-making abortion enterprise and in my opinion they do not warrant public funding of any kind. If someone wants to use a condom, let them pay for it. If they want to get an abortion, which is legal at this time, let them pay for it.
November 2, 2007 at 7:50 pm
After reading this article, I feel much more educated, yet somewhat surprised at my own ignorance on this topic. The US government’s actions to fund Planned Parenthood makes the government “backtrack” on the path of battling aids. I’m glad that there is federal funding for the promotion of abstinence in Africa, but I can only imagine how much more could be done if the money being given to Planned Parenthood were instead used for Abstinence based sexual education.
November 6, 2007 at 8:10 am
Excellent job! I especially like your comparison of the funding differential between abstinence education and so-called “comprehensive” sex-ed approaches. There is so much hot air in the media over funding abstinence when in fact contraceptive-based programs get the largest share of the money. That point is rarely mentioned in the “mainstream” media.
November 26, 2007 at 10:37 am
[...] or Not I recently posted a rather long article about organizations which receive federal funds, and then use those funds to undermine U.S. …. The following article gets filed under the same general category of “shooting ourselves in [...]
November 27, 2007 at 10:30 am
I would have to say that I disagree with most of the comments I have read. I feel it is the responciblity os the US to try and help uneducated people of the world to control the growing population problems of this world. Just telling third world people to just stop having sex outside of marriage is not going to work. Providing birth control methods seems to me the way to go. We as Christians should not force our beliefs on others, especially when it comes to family planning. The countries we are speaking of all poor, uneducated, and over poputaled. They can’t care and feed for the child they have alredy produced. What’s wrong with providing them with methods of birth control that will help solve the problem not add more babies to die of stravation and neglect. The astinence theroy is not a proving method of birth control. It’s a program that doesn’t work in our own country what makes you think it will work in other less educated countries? The US should not fund either method. If the US is going to fund a program then they should present both sides and let the people have a choice.
November 29, 2007 at 11:21 am
Everything is so well put, Traci. I have never respected Planned Parenthood or believed that they truly have people’s best interests at heart. Now you have added evidence to that belief. It saddens me to hear that they are receiving all this federal funding. I hope the truth of what they are doing comes into the light. Thanks.