Laura Ingraham Grossly Misrepresents Planned Parenthood's Budget

Special Programs Abortion Rights & Reproductive Health

Written by Andy Newbold

Published

Laura Ingraham claimed on Fox News that “Planned Parenthood makes most of its money from the abortion procedure” and “without the abortion services, Planned Parenthood is basically out of business.” In fact, abortion services make up less than 15 percent of Planned Parenthood's annual revenue.

Ingraham Falsely Claims Most Of Planned Parenthood's Revenue Comes From Abortion

Ingraham: “Planned Parenthood Makes Most Of Its Money From The Abortion Procedure.” From the February 17 edition of The O'Reilly Factor:

INGRAHAM: Here's what we know, Bill. We know that Planned Parenthood gets about a third of its budget from the U.S. taxpayers, number one. Number two, we know that Planned Parenthood makes most of its money from the abortion procedure. About 324,000 abortions a year.

[...]

INGRAHAM: They oppose it, Bill, because, I mean, to be brutally honest here Planned Parenthood is overwhelmingly in the business to do one thing, to perform abortions. .09 percent of the clients who walk into a Planned Parenthood clinic get prenatal services. And in the last year that was tallied, only about 2400 or so cases were referred to adoptions. OK, so you do the math. 324,000 abortions, cost on average about $500 a piece. And then the 2400 referred to adoption. It doesn't take a math whiz to understand that without the abortion services, Planned Parenthood is basically out of business. [Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, 2/17/11]

In Fact, Less Than 15% Of Total Revenue Comes From Abortion Services

Contraception, STD Testing And Treatment, Cancer Screening Make Up Vast Majority Of Planned Parenthood Services. Planned Parenthood's 2008-2009 annual report states: “For the three million patients our doctors and nurses saw, we provided contraception (36 percent of our total services), testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (31 percent), cancer screening and prevention (17 percent), and abortion services (three percent).” [Planned Parenthood Annual Report 2008-2009, accessed 2/17/11]

Planned Parenthood Receives 15% Of Its Annual Revenue From Abortion Services. According to data from the most recent Planned Parenthood Annual Report:

  • Abortion accounted for 3 percent of total services (approximately 328,308 of 10,943,609 services)
  • At an average cost of $500, total revenue from abortion services was approximately $164,154,000
  • Revenue from abortion services was less than 15 percent of the total annual revenue, which was $1,100,800,000 [Planned Parenthood Annual Report 2008-2009, accessed 2/17/11]