Big Business

Question of the Week: Why do organizations such as Planned Parenthood insist that abortion should be readily available? Read Chuck Colson’s response below, taken from Answers to Your Kids' Questions: Tragically abortion has become an industry. And what passes as abortion “counseling” in Planned Parenthood clinics is really marketing. In a survey of women who had had abortions, some 90 percent said that the counseling they received gave few facts and was heavily biased in favor of abortion. Take Kathy Walker. Her story is not unusual. Kathy was pregnant when she was thirteen. Her parents took her to a Planned Parenthood clinic, where the staff presented abortion as the only viable option. The doctor even warned Kathy in ominous tones that if she kept the baby, she’d end up a perpetual welfare mother. Well, Kathy “chose” an abortion—but it could hardly be called an informed choice. Carol Everett, who once owned and operated four lucrative abortion clinics, tells how the system works from the inside. If a girl decides to carry her baby to term, Carol explains, clinics don’t make any money. They make money only if she has an abortion. So, inevitably, clinics put pressure on women to abort. It starts with the first phone call. Nita Whitten, who once worked in an abortion clinic, says she was trained by a professional marketing firm in how to sell abortion over the phone. When a girl calls, Nita says, the object is not to help her; it’s to “hook the sale.” The main tactic abortion clinics use is fear. The phone operator asks the girl how late her period is and then tells her, “You’re pregnant.” Not “You might be pregnant,” but “You are pregnant.” Once the girl comes into the clinic, the tactic is to present abortion as the ideal solution. Is the girl afraid to tell her parents? “They don’t need to know,” she’s told. Is she worried about school? “An abortion will let you stay in school.” Is she afraid she can’t get the money? “Baby food and diapers cost a whole lot more.” And after the girl undergoes an abortion, there’s even a marketing strategy to turn her into a repeat customer: Give her free birth-control pills. That’s right. A girl on the pill is more likely to be sexually active. But since young people often do not remember to take pills consistently, it’s a good bet the girl will come back pregnant again. As Carol Everett puts it, birth control sells abortions. Abortion is a business. A big business that uses slick marketing tools. “They don’t tell you that . . . the abortion industry is worth $90 billion plus.”—Sarah E. Hinlicky, “Three Well-Kept Secrets about Abortion,” Boundless.org, 2 February 2000.

08/15/07