You can see that the surgical abortion business at PP had three distinct phases corresponding to the reign of its three different presidents during the last 20 years.

Faye Wattleton aggressively led the move for PP to become a major performer of surgical abortions. From less than 60,000 when she started, PP grew to performing over 130,000 in her last full year as president.

Pamela Maraldo always said she was not about abortion and that her primary goal was to move Planned Parenthood into the mainstream of health care. The abortion numbers during her term bear out this thrust. Maraldo was named president in November 1992 and resigned her position in June 1995 (actually leaving in September). The abortion numbers for this period are basically flat.

Planned Parenthood claims that it is not about abortion, it is about women's health. Yet the Maraldo presidency puts a lie to this claim. Maraldo believed PP's claims and took the concentration away from abortion and toward providing real health care. PP's affiliates revolted. They did not want the change and fought hard to resist. They eventually won and Maraldo left.

The presidency of Gloria Feldt has been marked by a rapid expansion in Planned Parenthood's abortion business. As if to make up for lost time, PP has expanded its number of facilities performing abortions from 99 in 1992 to 148 in 1997. Its two-year, 25,000-abortion increase spurt is unparalleled in PP history.

Abortion Dollars

This increase in surgical abortions has meant big bucks for PP. A typical fee schedule for abortions at PP is (this data from PP of Houston):

• Up to 12 weeks $350
• 12 to 13 weeks $475
• 14 to 15 weeks $625
• 16 to 18 weeks $990
• 18 to 20 weeks $1,250

Yet, for all its increase in providing surgical abortion services, there is something more telling about this latest PP thrust.

The graph above gives the details of Planned Parenthood's total abortion business over the last nine years. The total abortion business is the sum of the number of abortions performed at PP and the number it refers to other facilities plus a new category that PP calls "contract abortions."

As the trend line at the top indicates, this business has been basically flat. Despite the aggressive opening of new abortion chambers by PP, it has not increased the total number of women getting abortions, only the number getting abortions at PP (and, therefore, paying PP for the abortions).

Looking at the graph, one can almost imagine the conversation at PP headquarters during the first months of 1995. As the 1994 numbers became apparent, PP's financial people likely saw the dramatic rise in abortion referrals and fretted about all the business PP was missing. PP's Board listened and decided it was time to abandon course and get back to the business of pushing abortion.

Much to PP's chagrin, the 1994 numbers turned out to be an aberration. But PP was committed to its course of action and Gloria Feldt was pushing harder and harder for more internal abortions.

Planned Parenthood has always maintained that the number of abortion providers limits the number of abortions. It says we need more abortion providers to service the unmet needs. Yet, PP's own experience does not back up that claim. From 1992 to 1997, Planned Parenthood increased its number of facilities performing surgical abortions by 50 percent. Yet its total abortion business remained constant.

Of course, its income from abortion rose over $12 million. It is clear, from this data what is really driving the abortion business at Planned ParenthoodÑmoney! It is not the need of women for abortion services, it is the insatiable need of Planned Parenthood for more and more money.