Summary and analysis of
Planned Parenthood’s
operation in the United States

	PPFA policy
	Parents’ rights
	Infanticide
	Zoning laws
	Abstinence education

Planned Parenthood frequently advocates positions on public policy issues that are contrary to the views of the majority of the American people. Some of the issues that arose in 1997/98 and PPFA's position on them are:

Parents' rights

Most Americans continue to view the family as the backbone of our society. A strong family structure leads to a strong nation. Planned Parenthood undermines the family by insisting on giving services to minor children without their parents' knowledge or consent.

In 1998, Congress voted to require minors who receive family planning services under Title X to have their parents' permission. PPFA fought against this provision.

PPFA also fought against the Child Custody Protection Act, which prevented someone other than a minor's parents from taking her across state lines for an abortion.

During the last year, PPFA obtained preliminary injunctions against laws requiring parental consent or notice prior to a minor's abortion in Tennessee and Montana. PPFA routinely fights against such laws in every state in which they are introduced.

Infanticide

Planned Parenthood has a long history of wanting to eliminate children. Its founder, Margaret Sanger, wrote in her book Woman and the New Race, "The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."

Following in Sanger's footsteps, PPFA is working very hard to protect a method of killing infants which is known as the D&X procedure. Senator Daniel P. Moynihan of New York labeled this procedure "infanticide." Yet PPFA is adamant in its attack on those that would prohibit it.

PPFA went to court in many states to ensure that the procedure remained legal—fighting any laws to ban the procedure. Its Annual Report stated, "We helped win permanent injunctions against such laws in Arizona and Montana, and interim injunctions in Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Virginia."

Despite the fact that the American people are clearly outraged by this procedure, PPFA is spending millions of dollars (1/3 of which comes from American taxpayers) to support infanticide.

Zoning laws

The American public has long supported zoning laws as a means whereby local towns and cities can control the character of their neighborhoods and protect residential neighbors and commercial developers.

PPFA has shown its total disregard for such zoning laws by taking municipalities to court to force PP's agenda on local people. One such case cited in PPFA's Annual Report occurred in Davenport, Iowa. PPFA decided it wanted to build an abortion facility on a piece of land near area schools. When local officials informed PP that the land was not correctly zoned and that it could not build it there, PPFA went to court and actually got a judge to order the city to allow the abortion facility and to not enforce any of its zoning laws on that piece of land.

Abstinence education

As noted earlier in this report, PPFA uses its sex education programs to increase its customer base. The Annual Report notes, on page 10, that one of the major topics covered at PPFA's annual Education Directors' Retreat was "generating income from education and training."

PPFA sees abstinence education as a threat to its income and survival. In past years it has reported on lawsuits it has brought against school districts in Jacksonville, Florida (and other areas) to force schools to teach PPFA's version of sex education.

Despite the public and Congress' overwhelming support of education that stresses the "abstinence only" message, PP continues to push its own self-serving agenda.