The abortion behemoth Planned Parenthood is ready to drop $3 million to ensure the election of pro-abortion candidate for governor, Ralph Northam.
This comes as no surprise, of course. As the Washington Post celebrated, “Northam has been a key ally to abortion groups, making the issue a top priority during his time in Richmond.”
Some believe Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry are counting on Northam and his Democrat allies to keep the taxpayer money flowing to their facilities.
In our opinion, any taxpayer money funneled to Planned Parenthood is too much.
In the Commonwealth, Planned Parenthood benefits from federally mandated Medicaid funds to the tune of around $150,000 annually, plus a small amount of non-Medicaid funding (which we have sought to ban). Not paltry, but a drop in the bucket to a $1 BILLION business like Planned Parenthood.
No, the real money Planned Parenthood fears losing, should someone other than a pro-abortion zealot be elected governor, isn’t directly from the taxpayers.
You see, between the time the abortion center health and safety standards were adopted and today, Virginia went from having 22 abortion centers to 14.
In our opinion, any taxpayer money funneled to Planned Parenthood is too much.
Some closed for reasons unrelated to the health and safety standards, such as lease issues, loss of client share, and owner retirement. Two never bothered to try to meet the standards and didn’t even try to get licensed, closing down before even an initial inspection. One, the Steven Brigham owned center in Fairfax, was so bad the Department of Health, even under Terry McAuliffe, suspended its license and it subsequently closed.
And while the McAuliffe administration illegally watered down the standards, the industry knows if a pro-life governor is elected who has the courage to fight to get them fully implemented again, especially the construction standards, many more abortion centers are likely to close.
Fewer abortion centers mean fewer abortions. Since 2010 the abortion rate in Virginia is down 32 percent. That’s more than 8000 babies saved. In cold numbers, just like Planned Parenthood likes, at an average of $450 an abortion, it’s a loss of revenue of nearly $4 million to the abortion industry. That’s a number Planned Parenthood and the rest of the abortion industry is desperate to reverse.
Besides fewer abortion centers, a big reason for that drop is pregnancy help centers that provide real assistance to women who face an unplanned pregnancy. The very same facilities then state Senator Ralph Northam sought to regulate out of business in 2010, an effort that failed then, but who knows what promises Northam has made to the industry in exchange for the $3 million.
The reality is the abortion industry is terrified that more and more women are choosing to keep their babies, is losing money, and is frantic for people like Ralph Northam to help keep them in business. Funneling $3 million to a campaign (instead of actually providing health care) is just the cost of doing business.
Victoria Cobb is president of The Family Foundation of Virginia, empowering families to apply a Biblical worldview and founding principles to politics and culture.