Planned Parenthood is the leading abortion facility in the United States, completing more than 400,000 abortions per year.
Planned Parenthood has long argued that the dissolution of its federal funding would harm American women by depriving them of access to essential medical care, but a new study shows that alternative health care clinics, dedicated solely to medical care rather than abortion, fill that gap.
The pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) found that federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, and doctors’ offices not only provide the care that Planned Parenthood doesn’t, but also meet the needs of American women, something Planned Parenthood ardently asserts is not possible without its existence.
Planned Parenthood argues that its large base of Medicaid-reliant patients would have nowhere to turn to after recent changes at the federal level that put its funding at risk. In June, the Supreme Court decided in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic that states can choose not to fund abortion facilities like Planned Parenthood via their states’ Medicaid budgets. President Donald Trump took another stab at Planned Parenthood’s infrastructure when he signed the “big, beautiful bill,” and ultimately excluded Planned Parenthood — among other abortion providers — from receiving funding through Medicaid.
“For years, Planned Parenthood received hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding despite abhorrent stories of poor care and its focus on abortion,” said Tessa Cox, a senior research associate at CLI who authored the paper. “Now, with tax dollars being redirected at the state and federal levels, abortion advocates insist that Planned Parenthood is irreplaceable. Women deserve to know they have health care options that extend beyond a group dedicated to ending unborn life.”
The statistics are staggering: For every one child whose mother comes into a Planned Parenthood and leaves with an adoption referral, 187 children are aborted, CLI found. Additionally, 96.9 percent of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy resolutions services were abortions — services which can, in general, also include counseling, adoption information, or prenatal care.
Planned Parenthood has been transparent about its efforts to maintain its abortion project amidst its loss of federal funding.
“Nearly 200 health centers in 24 states are at risk of closing, and an overwhelming majority of the Planned Parenthood health centers that may close provide abortion care,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement in July. “Lawmakers know this will strip access to abortion, in addition to birth control, cancer screenings, and other sexual and reproductive health care.”
Federally qualified health centers, for example, serve one in ten Americans, according to the paper, and estimate that there are more than 5,500 across the country. These centers, “qualify to receive grant funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in order to make health care available in underserved communities,” the paper reads.
Rural health care clinics are another alternative, serving more than 60 percent of rural Americans across the country, and all states with rural health care clinics are required to cover the cost of treatment via their Medicaid programming.
Further, pregnancy centers remain a resource for women seeking health care, not abortions.
“Of the approximately 2,750 pregnancy centers nationwide, around 82% provided ultrasounds in
2022, according to a survey by CLI. Over a third (36%) were estimated to provide testing for sexually transmitted infections, with more than a quarter (28%) providing STI treatments. Additionally, more than one in 10 pregnancy centers offer fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) for women seeking to manage their fertility,” the CLI paper reads.
Non-medical resources are often also available, including counseling, material resources, and guidance accessing other community resources.
Although Planned Parenthood asserts that it is indispensable in the women’s health sector, CLI found that for every one Planned Parenthood in the United States, there are 15 more community health centers that offer women’s health-care services.
Many states have already defunded Planned Parenthood on their own accord, including Iowa, Kansas, and Texas. Taxpayer dollars in those states are sent to actual health-care centers, rather than Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
Statistics have proven that Iowa’s defunding of Planned Parenthood, for example, led to fewer abortions in the state. Skeptics say less access to contraceptives, potentially via Planned Parenthood, remains a point of concern, but Iowa has seen a dramatic drop in abortions statewide. While Planned Parenthood noted an 86 percent drop in Iowan women participating in the state’s family planning program post Planned Parenthood’s removal, the alleged weakened access to contraceptives did not translate to more abortions or pregnancies.
“However, as CLI has noted previously, Iowa birth and abortion totals were lower in 2019 than in 2016, the year before Planned Parenthood left the program,” the paper reads. “Despite continuing concerns about the low numbers of women accessing contraception via Iowa’s family planning program, in 2023, the total number of abortions performed in Iowa was lower than the total performed in 2016, as estimated by the Guttmacher Institute.”
Texas, for example, was able to create more widespread access because the state tackled the problem on its own, rather than funneling money to Planned Parenthood.
“Evidence suggests that enrollment and participation in Texas’ family planning programs have been driven by the state’s investment and promotion, rather than by Planned Parenthood’s participation in the program,” the paper reads.
Planned Parenthood is responsible for more than 4,000 abortions per year, making it a central focus of the clinic. Alternatives, such a rural health care clinics and pregnancy resource centers exist, and can provide other services that while Planned Parenthood espouses provide, are often overshadowed by its focus on abortion.
“Redirecting Medicaid funding to the thousands of alternative women’s health providers will not prevent women from accessing health care; it means that taxpayer funding will go to providers of real health care, not the nation’s largest abortion chain,” Cox writes.
In addition to abortion services, Planned Parenthood has embraced the “gender affirming care” model of treating gender dysphoria, which relies on medicalizing psychologically distressed children and teens as early in the pubertal process as possible.
National Review recently reported on Planned Parenthood’s “online gender-affirming care” lessons, which include graphic suggestions like using a liquid filled condom to appear as a penis and informing children that Planned Parenthood locations offer hormone therapy without requiring letters from therapists.
The course, called Sex Ed To-Go, also alleges that puberty blockers only stop puberty, while not addressing the many and potentially serious side effects.
Planned Parenthood did not respond to National Review’s request for comment at the time of publication.