What Percent Of Planned Parenthood Services Are Abortions

THE MEDIA: Print.

WHO SAID IT: Cathi Herrod.

TITLE: President of Center for Arizona Policy.

THE TARGET: Planned Parenthood.

THE COMMENT: "Planned Parenthood has worked hard to re-brand itself as a women's health provider, but their main business is still abortion."

THE FORUM: Quote in an Arizona Republic article published online on June 26.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT: How much of Planned Parenthood's operations involve abortions and abortion-related services?

ANALYSIS: Planned Parenthood commonly cites a figure that only 3 percent of its services are for abortions. Of the almost 9.5 million services Planned Parenthood provides nationally each year, 328,348 are abortion procedures, according to the organization's annual report.

A "service" includes anything provided to a patient, whether it's a pregnancy test or an abortion, and some patients receive multiple services. Each service is given the same weight, even though an abortion is costlier and more time-consuming than many other services.

In terms of patients, Planned Parenthood served 2.4 million people last year and provided 328,348 abortions, according to its annual report. That works out to 13.7 percent of patients.

The national Planned Parenthood office did not respond to requests for an interview and little data is available outside of its annual reports, which consist of broad outlines. The reports don't include specifics such as all abortion-related visits, expenses or revenue.

Local numbers provide more detail.

The Arizona branch of Planned Parenthood produces its own report on the organization's activities in the state. Jodi Liggett, vice president of public affairs for the group, said of 33,181 Arizona patients 5,732 had an abortion in 2016.

That is about 17.27 percent of patients and 11 percent of all visits.

The remainder received services including cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection testing and contraception. Nationally, STI testing and contraception were a part of more than 7 million visits.

Part of Herrod's argument stems from a disparity between the number of visits for an abortion and those for prenatal care or adoption referrals.

Nationally, Planned Parenthood provided 9,419 "prenatal services" and 2,889 adoption referrals in 2016. It's possible that some patients visited multiple times for these services, but it's unclear from the national organization's numbers. Assuming each visit was from a different person, prenatal services and adoption referrals combined for 0.5 percent of total visits.

"I think that it's fairly clear that the primary focus is to continue to promote abortion," Herrod said.

Liggett said that while Planned Parenthood is "proud to offer" abortions, they counsel patients about all options.

She argued that comparing prenatal/adoption services to abortions is a "false equivalency" because a lot of OBGYNs don't offer abortions.

"(They) don't provide the same range of services. I don't think that's productive. We look for unmet needs and try to meet them," Liggett said.

Due to strict Arizona laws regulating abortion, Liggett said it's more difficult for local clinics to perform abortions than Planned Parenthood's facilities. Four of Planned Parenthood's 10 facilities in Arizona provide surgical or medication-based abortion services.

Many clinics and doctor's offices provide prenatal care but not abortions. Some Planned Parenthood offices don't provide prenatal care, instead referring the patient elsewhere.

Liggett said the decisions on what to offer are based on patients' needs in the area. She said that generally, Planned Parenthood's clientele is younger and trying to avoid pregnancy.

On the financial side, Planned Parenthood brought in $1.3 billion in revenue from three major sources in 2016: government grants ($550 million), non-government health services ($306.8 million) and private contributions and bequests ($257.9 million), among other much smaller sources.

It is illegal to use government grant money for abortions.

Nationally, Planned Parenthood spent $798.8 millionon medical services in 2016. The report doesn't break down specific medical expenses, so it's unclear how much of that went to abortion services. It's also unclear how much revenue was derived from abortions.

In Arizona, the state Planned Parenthood branch brought in $13.8 million in revenue in 2016. About $3 million of that came from abortion services, Liggett said, which accounts for about 21.7 percent of Planned Parenthood Arizona's total revenue.

The state branch spent about $9.22 million on all medical expenses, Liggett said. Of that, about $2.28 million was on abortion services, totaling 24.7 percent of medical spending. This breakdown of revenue and expenses for abortions is not reflected in the group's report; the numbers were provided to The Republic in response to questions.

BOTTOM LINE: Though abortions account for more than 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's operations, it's one of many services offered to its patients. It's also not the largest source of revenue, nor does it account for a majority of its expenses.

About 13.7 percent of clients received an abortion nationally and about 17.25 percent in Arizona did so.

Abortion services made up about a quarter of Planned Parenthood Arizona medical expenses (about $2.2 million) and more than a fifth of revenue (about $3 million).

Abortion is a primary service offered by Planned Parenthood, but it's not "their main business."

FINDING: One star, mostly false.

SOURCES: Phone and email interviews with Cathi Herrod, Center for Arizona Policy president; phone and email interviews with Jodi Liggett, Planned Parenthood Arizona vice president of public affairs; Planned Parenthood 2016 annual report; Planned Parenthood Arizona 2016 annual report; Planned Parenthood fee FAQ; "To defund Planned Parenthood, Arizona wants a say in residents' family planning," The Arizona Republic; "Fact Check: How Does Planned Parenthood Spend That Government Money?" NPR; "These Numbers From New Planned Parenthood Report Show Need to Defund Abortion Giant," Daily Signal.