Planned Parenthood in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue/Flickr)

Debunking Planned Parenthood’s “5 Myths”

on August 7, 2017

Abortion giant Planned Parenthood is once again on defense as it faces significant cuts from the federal government. In attempt to cast itself in a positive light, the organization posted “5 biggest myths about Planned Parenthood” on their website. All five so-called “myths” attempt to change the narrative that defunding them is an economic issue.

But Christians must be capable of seeing through these errors. Here is how churches can counter Planned Parenthood’s five myths with truth.

Myth #1: “Other providers can absorb Planned Parenthood’s patient base.”

Planned Parenthood posted a chart in an attempt to show that they alone can provide healthcare for woman. However, they neglected to mention the option of the large number of Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) which outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics in America. Kristen Day with Democrats for life stated:

There are 9,000 Community Health Center sites across the country; almost every single Congressional district has at least one. They vastly outnumber the 700 Planned Parenthood facilities, and they provide fuller services for families.

The Christian community has immensely aided the spread of CPCs. These non-profits facilities do not charge for any services and do not perform abortions, unlike the supposedly irreplaceable healthcare provider Planned Parenthood. National organizations such as Care Net operate CPCs, and also challenge and equip churches to get involved in the pro-life movement. CPCs such as HOPE Pregnancy Center in Texas receive funds only from local churches and businesses.

Planned Parenthood deemed CPCs as “not having the capacity to absorb their 2.4 million patients.” But many of these CPCs provide not only services for women, but also shelter and parenting classes. And according to the Gospel Coalition, CPCs see about 2 million women every year, with each center averaging about 350-400.

Myth #2: “Planned Parenthood is unpopular and should be defunded.”

Planned Parenthood claims 80 percent of Americans oppose “defunding” it because it would block “preventive and essential healthcare.” But the entire premise is based on a false assumption. Planned Parenthood forgot to mention that healthcare is a minuscule portion of its actual services. For example, screening services and other prevention programs has decreased 64 percent. According to Family Research Council, in 2015, “Planned Parenthood committed 35 abortions for every prenatal service it provided.”

Where is the church outcry? Life Site News exposed that:

More than 150 liberal organizations, including the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church as well as Presbyterian and Jewish organizations, signed a letter calling for U.S. senators to keep Planned Parenthood on the government dole.

Christians must be at the forefront of this moral battle. Pew Research noted 76 percent of white evangelicals, and 51 percent Catholics believe abortion is a moral issue. However, 45 percent of white mainline Protestants and unaffiliated do not think it is a moral issue. There is still a lot of work to be done; churches cannot stay silent.

Myth #3: “Planned Parenthood uses federal tax dollars for abortions”

The biggest farce that Planned Parenthood touts is that they do not use federal tax dollars for abortions. Their annual revenue is $1.3 billion, and $528 million (41 percent) comes from taxpayers via the government. Planned Parenthood says it doesn’t violate the Hyde Amendment (which  bans federal funds from paying for abortions), but the truth is that money is fungible. Students for Life released a helpful video explaining this concept of Planned Parenthood uses federal money to free up funds to direct their donations to increase their abortion services, and more.

As Christians, it is our duty to render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s. But that doesn’t let us off the hook for holding the federal government accountable for how it spends our money.

Myth #4: “Planned Parenthood has its own line item in the federal budget.”

While Planned Parenthood is not lying when it describes this as a myth, it conveniently avoids discussing the reality that they receive a hefty amount of money as discussed above. Defunding Planned Parenthood means cutting federal money from going to to the organization. States, however, can still give Planned Parenthood clinics funds through Medicaid. There are 17 states that allow their Medicaid to go directly to pay for all or most medically necessary abortion services.

Myth #5: “‘Defunding’ Planned Parenthood will save the country money.”

Let’s be clear. The current administration’s decision to attempt to defund Planned Parenthood is not primarily an economic decision. It is ultimately a moral decision. Planned Parenthood will lose any remaining moral legitimacy if churches raise their voice.

Christens must pray and speak out to prevent Planned Parenthood aborting 887 babies per day. Churches have to continue to be the safe haven for mothers of unborn children, not an ally of an organization that ends a baby’s life every 97 seconds. Christians need to be the voice for the voiceless. I challenge Christians to debunk the most important myth that has stained our culture today: that Planned Parenthood must remain in business.

  1. Comment by Derek Ramsey on August 7, 2017 at 1:26 pm

    Myth #5: “‘Defunding’ Planned Parenthood will save the country money.”

    You say this is ultimately a moral issue, and yes, that is true, but it is still a serious economic issue.

    Let’s say, for sake of argument, that Planned Parenthood was defunded and it cost the country more money. This effect would only be short-term. As abortions lead to an increasingly inverted population pyramid, this will inevitably cost the country vastly more in long-term care costs. There will not be enough young to pay for the care of the old. Those 887 babies per day will not grow up to become wage earners and tax payers.

    The U.S. has been insulated somewhat compared to other developed nations by immigration of a working-age population and larger immigrant families, but it is not sustainable. It costs more per immigrant in government services than established residents having babies.

    Reducing abortions is the pro-life solution to this problem that avoids having to try to decrease the elderly population.

  2. Comment by David Benrexi on August 9, 2017 at 10:06 am

    Very few pro-life women’s services bill themselves as CPC’s– crisis pregnancy centers, and they have been prinarily referred to as pregnancy care centers since 2000. The name change is significant. Calling a pregnancy a crisis is contrary to what the bible says, that children are a blessing. So this change goes way back and there are few using the old nomenclature. You can still find PCCs when you look up crisis pregnancy on Google, but centers are wiser these days, in hopes of rescuing more women who are targeted by the abortion industry.

  3. Comment by Ted R. Weiland on August 11, 2017 at 7:13 pm

    Just think, had the constitutional framers (like their 17th-century Colonial forbears) established government and society upon Yahweh’s immutable/unchanging moral law (including Exodus 21:22-23), Planned Parenthood wouldn’t exist and millions of in utero infants would have lived to see the light of day.

    And yet many Christians are tenacious about supporting the biblically seditious Constitution that made this possible:

    “… 3. Every problem America faces today can be traced back to the fact that the framers failed to expressly establish a government upon Yahweh’s immutable morality as codified in His commandments, statutes, and judgments. (Would infanticide and sodomy be tolerated, let alone financed by the government, if Yahweh’s perfect law and altogether righteous judgments were the law of the land? Would Islam be a looming threat to our peace and security if the First Amendment had been replaced with the First Commandment? Would Americans be in nearly as much debt if usury had been outlawed as a form of theft? Would crime be as rampant if “cruel and unusual punishment” had not been outlawed and criminals were instead punished with Yahweh’s altogether righteous judgments? Would we be on the fiscal cliff if we were taxed with a flat increase tax rather than a graduated income tax?)….

    “On February 27, 2009, James Dobson conceded that we have lost the culture wars. This is the consequence of Christians [including Dr. Dobson] having spent the last two centuries lopping at the rotten branches of our culture’s corrupt tree while watering and fertilizing its roots.

    “We should lop away at the tree’s corrupt branches (infanticide, sodomy, the economy, etc.). However, until the root of these problems is Biblically addressed, we will never shut down the infanticide mills, we will never defeat the sodomites, and we will never fix the economy. In short, we will never win the culture wars. This issue is more than important for anyone concerned about God, our nation, and the future of our posterity, it’s the cutting- edge issue of our day…..”

    For more, see our Featured Blog Article “5 Reasons the Constitution is Our Cutting-Edge Issue” at http://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/.

    Then find out how much you really know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey at http://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/ConstitutionSurvey.html and receive a complimentary copy of a book that examines the Constitution by the Bible.

  4. Comment by Dave Gingrich on August 12, 2017 at 7:46 am

    I have no idea how PP people can live with themselves. Very sad.

  5. Comment by Alison Tames on October 6, 2017 at 11:24 pm

    This is riddled with typos and inaccuracies. No supporting links to back up many of your claims.

  6. Comment by DP on November 25, 2017 at 10:30 pm

    I have an extremely hard time when I hear that the UMC supports a choice of abortion…sad and very political and anit-Christ.

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