Planned Parenthood‘s newly released 2023–2024 annual report makes one thing crystal clear: abortion is big business, and business is booming. In 2022-2023, abortion made up 97.7% of Planned Parenthood’s “pregnancy-related services.” The organization boasted 402,200 abortions in its report, an increase even as its number of physical locations has declined.
This is not a coincidence; it’s a strategy. With fewer clinics, Planned Parenthood has pivoted to pushing abortion pills via telehealth and the mail, dramatically expanding access while reducing overhead.
The shift coincides with staggering revenue growth: Planned Parenthood brought in over $2 billion, nearly $800 million of which came from taxpayers. Meanwhile, it referred only 2,148 women for adoption. That’s one adoption referral for every 187 abortions committed. Planned Parenthood provided 44 times more abortions than birth-related services (prenatal services or adoption referrals).
Yet, there’s a growing effort to paint the pregnancy help movement, largely volunteer-driven and donor-supported, as a so-called “billion-dollar industry.” It’s laughable. Unlike Planned Parenthood, pregnancy centers don’t charge for services, don’t receive federal reimbursements for abortion, and don’t turn vulnerable women into repeat customers.
Let’s be clear: Abortion is Planned Parenthood’s core business, and the provider is unapologetically expanding it. It’s new initiative uses YouTube to instruct viewers on how to take the abortion pill, all while sidestepping the health risks that come with it.
A recent report from the Ethics and Public Policy Center, based on actual insurance claims, found that over 5% of chemical abortions result in incomplete abortions requiring surgical intervention. Even more alarming, chemical abortion leads to adverse effects at a rate “at least 22 times as high as reported on the drug label.” Planned Parenthood knows this, but it won’t tell women. Instead, it markets abortion pills as safe, simple, and empowering — even as the data say otherwise.
It’s time the Food and Drug Administration reinstates safety regulations on mifepristone and investigates whether this mail-order abortion model is placing women at unnecessary risk. Women deserve real care, not marketing.
Planned Parenthood’s report also discusses “deconstructing abstinence” and reaching youth through videos, festivals, and even NBA events. This is not healthcare outreach. It’s long-term customer acquisition: hook teenagers early with sexual messaging, offer birth control, and be there with abortion when it fails.
Compare that with the work of pregnancy help organizations and federally qualified health centers.
According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, FQHCs outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities 15 to one and provide truly comprehensive care, including prenatal services at over 1,300 locations. Fewer than 2% of Planned Parenthood facilities provide prenatal care.
Then there are the more than 2,700 pro-life pregnancy help centers across the country, including many affiliated with Heartbeat International, that walk with women through pregnancy and beyond. They offer free ultrasounds, parenting classes, baby supplies, maternity housing, and a support system that doesn’t vanish after the appointment. There is no billing, no political lobbying, and no quotas.
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So, who’s really in this for profit? Big Abortion is a billion-dollar industry that thrives on repeat customers, aggressive marketing, and fear. Pregnancy help is a grassroots movement powered by generosity, volunteers, and love.
One provides pills, and the other provides people. One profits from despair, and the other stands for hope. If we’re going to have a national conversation about female health, it’s time to get honest about who’s doing the heavy lifting — and who’s making billions of dollars while calling it “care.”
Andrea Trudden is vice president of communications at Heartbeat International.