What sources fund Planned Parenthood? If we know this, we can actively do our part to help defund it. Here is a quick roadmap on how to do it and why it is so important. Regardless of one’s opinion about social issues, recent undercover videos from the Center for Medical Progress have exposed Planned Parenthood—beyond a shadow of a doubt—to be a depraved organization that dehumanizes its innocent victims and exploits the women it claims to serve.
Government funding. Many are calling for the government to defund Planned Parenthood, which currently receives more than half a billion dollars—half of a Billion dollars—each year from taxpayers. This taxpayer funding constitutes 41 percent of Planned Parenthood’s $1.3 billion budget according to the group’s 2013-2014 annual report. It is not surprising therefore that Planned Parenthood is well protected by members of government who long ago sold out to its massive political influence. But where does Planned Parenthood get the other 59 percent of its war chest?
Private donors. Planned Parenthood’s annual report states that the second-largest part of its revenue, nearly $400 million—which is roughly 30% of its annual budget—comes from private sources. In fact, since most of Planned Parenthood’s government funding is restricted by law from paying directly for abortions (although it certainly does so indirectly), Planned Parenthood abortions are largely funded from private sources.
So, who are these private donors? Some are familiar names, wealthy individuals who have fallen for the overpopulation myth, including Warren Buffett ($62 million in 2013), Bloomberg Philanthropies ($50 million in 2014), George Soros ($20 million from 2011 to 2014), David and Lucile Packard Foundation ($4.2 million in 2014), Hewlett Foundation ($3.8 million in 2014), the Ford Foundation ($1.4 million in 2014) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ($431,947 in 2014.)
But there are also corporate donors. Companies with familiar names that we all support when we buy their products. Companies in which we are part-owners through our IRAs, company retirement plans and stock investments. While the politicians are fighting over our tax money, most of us can take our own steps, however small, to defund Planned Parenthood.
What can we do?
Boycott the businesses that support Planned Parenthood. According to 2nd Vote, a conservative website that tracks companies’ political donations, 38 major companies donate directly to Planned Parenthood, including AT&T, American Express, Avon, Bank of America, Ben & Jerry’s, Clorox, Dockers, Energizer, Expedia, ExxonMobil, Groupon, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss, Macy’s, Microsoft, Nike, Pfizer, Starbucks, PepsiCo, Unilever, Verizon and Wells Fargo (as well as an additional 201 companies that donate to third-party groups funding Planned Parenthood). [Catholic Business Journal recommends a more rigorously researched and up-to-date boycott list from Life Decisions International (www.FightPP.org), a nonprofit that has been educating corporate officials about the Planned Parenthood agenda for more than 25 years and that has so far convinced 323 corporations to stop funding Planned Parenthood, keeping an estimated $42.5 million out of its coffers. [See its Corporate Funding Project here: http://fightpp.org/projects/cfp-boycott/] Imagine the uproar if any of these companies deliberately gave money to an organization that broke child labor laws or mistreated disabled kids. Yet isn’t it far worse when Planned Parenthood kills innocent babies to sell their body parts?
- Write letters of complaint to the companies that support Planned Parenthood. These are for-profit companies. They think they get some sort of public relations benefit by donating to Planned Parenthood. Show them that it is negative publicity they’re getting instead! Even large corporations have been known to change their donation policies after receiving complaints, especially at a time like this when there is so much publicity finally exposing what Planned Parenthood really does. Proof that it makes a difference: When 2nd Vote initially released its boycott list in July 2015, it included Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company and Xerox—companies that were listed based on apparently erroneous information contained on the Planned Parenthood website. After the release of that list, these three companies publicly denied supporting Planned Parenthood and asked for their names to be removed from Planned Parenthood’s website. These three companies obviously did not want to be associated with Planned Parenthood, especially in light of recent news reports. [Also, Population Research Institute and Life Defense International have been driving forces for years in effectively eliminating millions of dollars of corporate funding from Planned Parenthood. These nonprofits could use your financial assistance and prayers to further their efforts as well—ed.] Let’s boycott the companies still donating to Planned Parenthood and send them a note telling them so.
- Investors can take steps to keep any companies that support Planned Parenthood out of their stock portfolios. After all, the stocks we own represent small ownership interests in those companies, making us participants in whatever bad things those companies do. Those who invest through IRAs can try to exclude the offending companies from their investments. Those involved in company retirement plans or 401k plans can ask their employer to provide other options that do not violate their conscience. It may take some research to find out which companies to avoid, and the lists do change somewhat over time, but there are websites available to find this information. We can also invest in some of the mutual funds (e.g. Ave Maria family of funds) that expressly exclude immoral companies from their stock holdings.
Planned Parenthood has tried for years to hide what it does, and its lies are now being uncovered. While the organization is finally getting some of the political pressure it deserves, let’s also try to use our personal resources to defund this monstrosity. Even if we each make just a small dent in Planned Parenthood’s funding, at least we will have done our part to keep our own consciences clean.
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David G. Bjornstrom is a Santa Rosa, CA-based attorney at law with 32 years specializing in business, estate and tax law. He may be reached at David@CatholicBusinessJournal.biz
List By 2nd Vote
Just an FYI. The list of corporate donors to Planned Parenthood by 2nd Vote is horribly inaccurate. Some of the corporations they list simply do not support Planned Parenthood. It is important that prolife people be right when we make public statements or we will lose all credibility — with corporate leaders and the general public.
Boycott of Planned Parenthood Donors
I have been a supporter of Life Decisions International for 12 years. Their work is remarkably accurate and their style is both responsible and professional. I truly don’t know how they accomplish so much with so little funding.
LDI is one of the most effective pro-life organizations in the country, especially if one considers the amount of money raised and spent and the many victories realized.I greatly appreciate the time and effort they put into making the list of boycott targets one we can count on. (LDI’s boycott list includes all of the information needed to contact a corporation and a list of products/services offered by each corporation.)I am grateful for the well thought out process LDI uses before putting a company on its boycott list. They use uniform, clear and intelligent standards that are applied to every corporation.Thank you for promoting the list published by LDI. I have never been disappointed in their work and am happy for the opportunity to play a part in a project that has convinced hundreds of corporations to stop supporting Planned Parenthood. It is a success each participant can experience right away.Everyone who is serious about ending funding of Planned Parenthood should be participating in the boycott. The more who join in the fight the greater the number of victories to come.