Every time Planned Parenthood’s half a billion dollars in federal funding comes under public scrutiny, pro-Planned Parenthood politicians rush to the nearest microphone to repeat talking points handed to them straight from the nation’s leading provider of abortions. But as a new video by pro-life group Live Action highlights to devastating effect, those promises often don’t match up to reality.
A few of the key selling points repeated by Planned Parenthood’s defenders include that it is an essential provider of prenatal care, mammograms, cancer screenings, and breast exams — claims that major political figures, including Hillary Clinton, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), have repeated numerous times publicly, despite the facts showing otherwise.
As Live Action notes, the reality is that Planned Parenthood provides almost no prenatal care whatsoever, absolutely zero mammograms, less than 2% of the nation’s cancer screenings for women, less than 2% of breast exams, and less than 1% of all Pap tests. What it does provide, however, is a lot of abortions, some 320,000 per year, which equals 34.9% of abortions in the U.S. and comes out to nearly 900 abortions a day. There’s a reason the taxpayer-funded organization has earned the name “abortion mill.”
In the video (above), the promises of politicians about all of the essential services that Planned Parenthood provides women are played side-by-side against footage and audio of real live women visiting or calling actual Planned Parenthood facilities to see if they can really get all of those important services. Woman after woman is told that Planned Parenthood offers no prenatal care and no mammograms; what is repeatedly offered are “termination services.”
Live Action contacted 97 Planned Parenthood facilities and 92 of them “turned away women seeking prenatal care.”
Below is the complete transcript of the video, which starts with former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton telling the American people that Planned Parenthood offers “reproductive care, including birth control and pre-and postnatal care and cancer screenings.”
Hillary Clinton: Reproductive care, including birth control and pre and postnatal care and cancer screenings, that’s why we have to defend Planned Parenthood!
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PP (Tempe, AZ): We don’t have prenatal care here… Planned Parenthood offers abortions, so they don’t offer prenatal care.
Woman: OK, just abortions.
PP (Tempe, AZ): Yes.
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Sen. Angus King (I-Maine): Planned Parenthood has been around for a long time. They provide all kinds of prenatal and health care screening for women.
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PP (Merrillville, IN): No, we don’t do prenatal service. I mean, it’s called “Planned Parenthood, ” I know it’s kind of deceiving.
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA): Planned Parenthood is often the only option for women to get their annual checkup. It provides breast exams, contraception, prenatal care…
PP (Farmington, NM): We don’t offer prenatal care at Planned Parenthoood…We specialize in abortions.
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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): Prenatal services: gone.
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PP (Bend, OR): We actually don’t offer prenatal services. We’re not licensed to do so in Oregon or Washington.
Woman: I was just asking what kind of services you offer for pregnant women.
PP (Bend, OR): Pregnant women?
Woman: Yes.
PP (Bend, OR): Pregnant women who want to continue with their pregancy?
Woman: Yes.
PP (Bend, OR): Um, we don’t offer services.
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Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA): Planned Parenthood is about providing federal funds for care like mammograms and cervical cancer screenings and prenatal care.
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Woman: I was hoping that I could come to Planned Parenthood for a mammogram. Do you guys provide mammograms?
PP (Georgetown, IN): Um, we do not provide mammograms.
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Woman: Do you have OB/GYN’s here?
PP (Boise, ID): We do not. No.
Woman: No, you don’t? OK.
PP (Boise, ID): No. Which is a deceptive name, right? I think the same thing… Or, you know if you were looking to do termination options, we can do that as well.
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Sen. Kirsten Gilibrand (D-NY): It’s an attack on every preventative health service, every safety net, everything that you care about. Whether it’s early childhood education, whether it’s Pap smears, whether it’s mammograms, whether it’s prenatat care when you’re pregnant.
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PP (Albany, NY): No Planned Parenthood does not do prenatal care, hon.
Woman: Oh, none of them?
PP (Alabany, NY): Hm-mm.
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Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA): That leaves hundreds of thousands of expectant mothers without access to essential prenatal care and treatment. And that is where Planned Parenthood comes in.
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Woman: What pregnancy services do you offer?
PP (Dallas, TX): We only offer termination services.
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Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL): You defund access to referrals to other hospitals and specialists, and you deny prenatal care.
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PP (Santa Fe, NM): No, see, we don’t see pregnant women as a way of giving prenatal care. We see pregnant women, you know, if they are considering other options…
Woman: …Like, what other options, like, would you see the doctor for?
PP (Santa Fe, NM): At this location?
Woman: Yes.
PP (Santa Fe, NM): Um, so at this location, you guys do medication abortions?
Second PP Employee: Medication abortions.
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Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards: The services that we provide through the federal programs are family planning, cancer screenings, prenatal care.
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PP (Albuquerque, NM): So, if you’re choosing to terminate the pregnancy, we can make you an appointment at this office. If you’re not terminating the pregnancy, if you’re gonna continue the pregnancy, then we would refer you out… Sounds like you really don’t need to see us here at Planned Parenthood.
ONSCREEN TEXT:
Planned Parenthood does less than 2% of U.S. breast exams, less than 1% of U.S. Pap tests, less than 2% of U.S. cancer screenings for women, zero mammograms, virtually no prenatal care. (92 out of 97 PP facilities investigated turned away women seeking prenatal care.)
Planned Parenthood does 34.9% of U.S. abortions, over 320,000 abortions per year, 887 abortions per day, 1 abortion every 97 seconds.