“The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” ~Margaret Sanger, founder, Planned Parenthood
Kate Lancor, former Moultonborough welfare director decries the Executive council’s recent vote to defund Planned Parenthood. In her Union Leader Opposite Editorial entitled, Women need the services Planned Parenthood provides, Ms. Lancor characterizes the council vote as, “A pathetic lack of creative thinking in this [sic]country’s elected bodies that even allow such choices to be made.”
While giving readers a thumbnail history of Planned Parenthood and extolling its “community virtues,” Lancor admonishes, “Don’t politicize this, and make it an abortion issue, but rather a health care issue for millions of needy women. Buried underneath the portrayal of Planned Parenthood by lobbyists and politicians as trained abortionists lies years of providing family-planning education and much-needed affordable healthcare to millions of women and men.”
Lancor nails the talking points flawlessly in stating that, “Planned Parenthood provides contraceptives; breast, cervical and testicular cancer screenings; pregnancy testing and counseling; testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases; comprehensive sexuality education, menopause treatments; vasectomies, tubal ligations and abortion.” Kate Lancor paints us a picture of a multi-faceted, healthcare-focused organization that is invaluable to communities. Now who could possibly argue with that? Indeed, Ms. Lancor makes the case for its virtues. Ms. Lancor however overlooks the many problems with Planned Parenthood as an organization. So I’ll take them up where Ms. Lancor has conveniently left off.
Planned Parenthood is a corrupt organization. Despite repeated requests, Planned Parenthood will not open its books. Planned Parenthood spent more than $1 Million dollars in the 2010 election cycle supporting their candidates.
Planned Parenthood has provided services to men characterized as traffickers in the sex trade. Planned Parenthood has been the defendant in lawsuits charging the organization covered up the rapes of under-aged girls. Finally, numerous media reports detail clinics that overbilled by millions.
IRS filings show Planned Parenthood’s revenue was upwards of $1.1 billion in 2009, while a third of their revenues came at taxpayer expense. Yet, Planned Parenthood National President Cecile Richards draws the princely sum of $385,000 in pay and benefits.
While Planned Parenthood’s national execs receive hefty salaries, their local counterparts are also paid handsomely. Steve Trombley, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England garners a $250,000 salary annually. The irony behind “fat-cat” Trombley is when the Council rendered the vote to defund, It was Trombley who implied that PPNNE may cut some services as a result of the vote.
So now, Ms. Lancor comes to us in a Union Leader op-ed and implies the defunding was all about anti-abortion and morality lobbyists seeking to deny poor women access to birth control. Needy women? Does Planned Parenthood really care about anybody who is needy?
For all Ms. Lancor’s laudations of Planned Parenthood providing health care for women, PP does not offer comprehensive health care that other government funded clinics and doctors’ provide. While other providers give care for the whole person, Planned Parenthood focuses exclusively on the reproductive organs, limiting such services to sex-related diseases, manual breast exams (not mammograms), and ending pregnancies.
Ms. Lancor and her fellow “Sangerites will likely continue to misdirect what culminated the defunding of PPNNE. Although at the end of the day they are no different than all of the other monied constituencies vying for the almighty tax payer buck.. Who will then vilify, demagogue and pander to us because they didn’t get their cash cow subsidy. This defunding measure was never strictly about abortion, but it was about cutting off the funding to yet another corrupt organization who justifies their corrupt existence by pimping the desperate needs of the poor and the needy.
