What’s going on?
American Life League’s (ALL) STOPP program recently released its 2018 Planned Parenthood Facilities Report. The report is its annual survey of all Planned Parenthood (PP) locations in the United States. The report showed a continued decline in the total number of PP locations and a loss of seven surgical abortion centers. To view the full report, go to: https://www.stopp.org/pdfs/2018/2018_PP_Facilities_Report.pdf
What’s the strategy moving forward?
PP countered the trend by beginning medication abortions at eight additional centers. Those openings, combined with the closure of a large number of independent abortion facilities left PP running 51.5% of all free-standing abortuaries. At what point should anti-trust laws be applied to PP? Is it not in a monopoly provider position in many areas now? If ALL is correct: Why is government subsidizing this monopoly not breaking it up?
Looking at PP’s overall operations; it closed 11 centers in 11 states, while opening in three new communities, one in each of three states. PP has gone from 938 facilities at its peak in 1995 to 590 facilities at the end of 2018. This should not be surprising. This is a 37% decrease from their maximum number of facilities.
How does the business model work?
The more abortions they perform the fewer babies are born. The fewer babies that are born the fewer potential mothers there are in the next generation. The lower the number of potential mothers the fewer facilities will be needed. Their success contributes to their own demise. PP is a bad investment from a demographics perspective. Maybe that’s why government keeps sending your tax dollars there.
Let’s talk results.
Over the years, PP has tried to offset this loss of centers by opening larger and more upscale mega buildings. The move is intended to attract new customers. It was expected to be required to accommodate those people who went to its now closed facilities. An analysis of the PP customer count from its annual reports of 2006 through 2016 shows the strategy is not working. During that 11-year stretch, PP closed 24.9% of its facilities. It also opened 15 mega abortion centers. The result is its customer base dropped by 23.6%.
The dwindling number of facilities plus the declining number of customers has had an effect on its most lucrative activity; abortions. Despite its ever increasing emphasis on abortion, it has struggled to maintain its abortion numbers. Over the last nine years, PP has averaged 328,019 abortions a year, with a low of 321,384 and a high of 333,964. Currently performs 1,207 less abortions annually than it did in 2011.