Gloria Feldt resigns as president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America
On Thursday, January 27, 2005, Planned Parenthood Federation of America announced the resignation of its president, Gloria Feldt. Feldt was president for eight years, from mid-1996. In response to the resignation, STOPP issued the following press release. Readers are encouraged to use the numbers in this release to write letters to the editor.
Gloria Feldt's reign of death comes to end
at Planned Parenthood Federation of AmericaJim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League's STOPP International has issued the following statement in response to Planned Parenthood Federation of America's announcement of the resignation of its president, Gloria Feldt:
Under Gloria Feldt, Planned Parenthood killed more human beings in the last eight years than any terrorist organization. Her departure is good news. During her eight-year reign, Planned Parenthood aborted more than 1,370,000 babies in its own facilities. In contrast, Feldt's predecessor, Faye Wattleton, was in office 14 years and oversaw a total of 1,320,000 abortions.
Under Feldt, abortion took on a more prominent role in the organization's business operations. When Feldt became president in 1996, abortions brought in an estimated $49.8 million and accounted for 27.6 percent of its clinic income. Last year, the abortion income rose to an estimated $104 million and accounted for 36.1 percent of its clinic income. Today, 31 percent (260) of Planned Parenthood clinics do surgical and/or medical abortions.
In addition to increasing PPFA's child killing, Feldt has presided over a significant decline in Planned Parenthood's physical operations. When Feldt took over the reigns of PPFA, it had 147 affiliates across the country that operated 938 clinics. Today it has 122 affiliates operating fewer than 850 clinics. This decline was brought about by decreasing public support for the organization.
More recently, PPFA suffered major defeats in the last election. American voters came out in full force with the message that moral values were a major factor in this year's campaigns, while Planned Parenthood persisted with its support and promotion of programs and ideologies that are completely devoid of traditional moral values.
Experience has shown that Planned Parenthood's operations are greatly influenced by its president. We pray that Planned Parenthood will select a new president who values human life and is really concerned about true health care for all Americans.
STOPP's analysis of Feldt's departure
Since the announcement of Gloria Feldt's departure, we have received a number of phone calls asking us if we know why. Here is our best analysis.
We believe there are two reasons that precipitated the change. First, the Planned Parenthood Federation was getting uneasy with Feldt's over-the-top promotion of abortion. Specifically, Feldt's decision to promote the "I had an abortion" T-shirt angered a number of the federation's affiliates and caused great unrest within the organization.
Second, Feldt tied the organization to the Democratic party. PP endorsed a presidential candidate (John Kerry) for the first time in its history and Feldt was even a speaker at the Democratic National Convention. When the Democrats lost the election in November, it was a stunner to the organization. When the election results came in and it was clear that the vast majority of states did not support Kerry, the leaders of PP decided it was time for a change. Although Feldt's resignation was billed as "sudden," Planned Parenthood was putting plans in place for her departure as early as late November.
Now, we do not expect that PP is going to change its efforts to kill babies. But we do expect that its public persona will begin to soften and it will try to position itself as being more moderate. It will be our task to continue telling the truth about the organization (as we did in the press release above).
This entire episode shows that even Planned Parenthood can be affected by politics and by the opinions of the average person. We encourage all STOPP supporters to keep on telling the real truth about this organization and they will become, at some time, non-existent.
Planned Parenthood condoms rated worst by Consumer Reports
In its February 2005 edition, Consumer Reports magazine rates 24 condom brands. Of the three types of Planned Parenthood condoms reported on by the magazine, two came in dead last in the ratings. In fact, the Planned Parenthood "Honeydew" condom was the only one tested that was rated a failure.
STOPP supporters should use this example when PP tries to claim that it should be trusted in its work. The organization doesn't even care enough to put out top-flight products for its own clients.
Planned Parenthood and RU-486
Planned Parenthood is pushing RU-486 (medical abortions) across the country. Despite the fact that 18-year-old Holly Patterson died after being given the drug at a Planned Parenthood clinic, PPFA bragged in its latest annual report that it is now providing the drug at 95 clinics in addition to its 165 surgical abortion facilities.
Now, Concerned Women for America has obtained the FDA records on the dangerous results of this drug. We ask all our readers to follow the following links to learn more information about the bad effects of this killer drug and then use that information to challenge PP and inform PP's customers.
Planned Parenthood against motorists having license plate choice
Planned Parenthood once again has shown that it is an organization that is only in favor of choice if you choose what it wants. Many states have "Choose Life" license plates available for an extra charge to motorists who choose to obtain them. Planned Parenthood objects to the plates and filed a lawsuit to stop their availability in South Carolina.
You can read the story of PP's successful efforts to enforce its view on an entire state online.
STOPP has maintained for years that PP's holiday card that proclaims "Choice on Earth" indicates the organization is really about promoting abortion, not real choice. This lawsuit by PP confirms what we have said.
Links to recent news items on Planned Parenthood
We present here each month links to recent stories about Planned Parenthood. (Note that many newspapers move web pages. The links below were working at time this report was initially sent.)
- We encourage everyone to read this article from CNS. It is one of the best we have read on PP's operations.
- The following items concern protests against PP
- The following items concern efforts to take money away from PP:
- Planned Parenthood sex education initiatives:
- Planned Parenthood upset because Justice Department doesn't recommend use of child-killing product for rape victims
- Planned Parenthood building new abortion facility in Eureka, California:
- After losing at the ballot box, Planned Parenthood tries to force its views through the courts
- Planned Parenthood sued in California
- Massachusetts politician goes to work for PP
Effectiveness of Planned Parenthood clinic protests
For any STOPP supporter who may question the effectiveness of being on the streets in front of Planned Parenthood, an article ran recently in a Texas A&M newspaper that tells how effective it is.
The paper reported that a senior at Texas A&M told them that, although the clinic provides many services in addition to surgical abortion, the prospect of dealing with protesters and possibly having her family notified is enough to make her avoid visiting the clinic for any reason.
This is the result we want. Congratulations to the pro-lifers in Bryan, Texas for your constant vigil outside PP. You can read the entire Texas A&M article at: http://www.thebatt.com/news/2005/01/24/News/Clinic.Says.Patrons.Targeted-839234.shtml?page=1
New STOPP national director
Finally, this month we are happy to tell you that, after an extensive nationwide search, a tremendous fighter against Planned Parenthood has agreed to become the next national director of our efforts against Planned Parenthood.
Mr. David Bereit, director of the Coalition for Life in Bryan, Texas will be joining our staff on March 14. He brings with him a wide experience in conducting successful battles against Planned Parenthood. David not only led the fight in Bryan, he helped start several other local fights against Planned Parenthood in various Texas towns.
In recognition of David's work, PP's Gloria Feldt once called Bryan, Texas "the most anti-choice place in the country." In case you are wondering, we have no way of verifying the rumor that Feldt resigned this month because she heard David was moving into the national fight against her organization.
We will tell you more about David in the coming months. We thank God for bringing him into this battle.
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