Facebook used these two abortionists to ‘fact-check’ pro-life message

September 6, 2019 (Live Action News) — Abortion is big business for Facebook's “independent fact checkers” and for the fact checkers' financial backers — despite claims of impartiality. Last week, Facebook relied on the word of two abortionists to target Live Action and Lila Rose's pages over the statement “abortion is never medically necessary.” This targeting resulted in penalties to the pages — or as Facebook put it in its limited communication with Live Action, “reduced distribution and other restrictions because of repeated sharing of false news.”

This situation is even more disturbing given the fact that thousands of Board certified OBGYNs agree with Lila Rose and Live Action's statement. Over 1,000 physicians have signed the Dublin Declaration, declaring in part, “As experienced practitioners and researchers in obstetrics and gynaecology, we affirm that direct abortion — the purposeful destruction of the unborn child — is not medically necessary to save the life of a woman.” According to its website, “the Dublin Declaration on Maternal Health was written and signed by a select panel of the Committee on Excellence in Maternal Healthcare, in September 2012.” In addition, the membership of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists — about 2,500 strong — also holds this position, and has for years.

So, who are these “fact checkers,” exactly, and how are they connected to Big Abortion? 

As previously noted by Live Action News, Facebook's “fact checkers” are two abortionists connected to organizations that are either directly funded by the abortion pill manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, or are funded by Danco investors.

Robyn Schickler

• Abortion provider
• Fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH), whose stated mission includes advocating for abortion and abortion providers
• Part of the Fellowship in Family Planning, which is part of Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) which trains abortion providers
• Held “Papaya Workshop” to other fellows in program, to demonstrate how to do abortions using fruit

Daniel Grossman

• Admitted abortion provider who “provides clinical services, including abortion care, as a consultant to Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific”

• Provided abortions up to 20 weeks' gestation at St. Luke's Women's Center
• Board of Whole Woman's Health Alliance (WWHA) abortion chain (WWH has a history of violations)
• Board of NARAL Pro-Choice America
• Liaison member of Planned Parenthood Federation of America National Medical Committee
• Consultant (2016) for Planned Parenthood Federation of America
• Member of International Planned Parenthood Federation Safe Abortion Action Fund Technical Review Panel (London) and member of Medical Development Team, Marie Stopes International (London)
• Director of University of California San Francisco's (UCSF) Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH)
• Board of the Later Abortion Initiative (LAI)
• Leading the push for so-called “self-managed” abortion
• Member of Editorial Board of Journal Contraception, funded by the Packard Foundation (an investor in abortion pill manufacturer Danco), where Grossman publishes his abortion studies
• Professor at UCSF (which is sponsoring Grossman's clinical trials)
• On staff at Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, which trains abortion providers

On Twitter, Grossman questioned the knowledge of Live Action president Lila Rose for not going to medical school, yet he advocates for self-managed abortion and for allowing non-physicians to perform abortions.

Who is DANCO, the abortion pill's manufacturer? 

• Danco Laboratories is manufacturer of the abortion pill (RU486), known as Mifeprex or Mifepristone.

• In 1994, with encouragement from Clinton administration, French pharmaceutical manufacturer Roussel-Uclaf assigned the US rights of marketing and distribution of the pill to the eugenics-founded Population Council.
• The right to distribute was later handed over to Danco Laboratories, a sub-licensee of the Population Council.
• The company and its investors have been cloaked in secrecy for years by the FDA.

Despite a Danco spokesperson once promising that the abortion pill “won't be available through pharmacies because it's a medical procedure and proper counseling is really important,” Grossman is conducting clinical trials to dispense it in pharmacies.

David and Lucile Packard Foundation

• Seeded Danco with millions of dollars as it transitioned from Population Council to DANCO Laboratories. 

  

• Investments included $14 million loan as early as 1996 and $10 million by 2000 to bring drug to US.
• Packard's 990s for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2009 show ongoing support for DANCO.
• Substantial donor to Planned Parenthood, National Abortion Federation, NARAL and others.

George Soros (Open Society Foundations) 

Aside from offering Danco financial assistance, Open Society funds many abortion projects, including:

• $383,000 to Population Council to support clinical trials of abortion pill Mifepristone (abortion pill) in 2000.
• $200,000 to National Abortion Federation for integration of medical abortion into programs in 2000, $150,000 in 2001
• $50,000 to Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) for support provider education on early abortion in 2001 and in 2002
• Funded report to incorporate ''abortion pill'' into mainstream medicine.

Warren Buffett (Buffett Foundation)

• Foundation gave funding for “development of mifepristone [abortion pill]”
• The Washington Post reports Buffett gave at least $2 million in interest-free loans to the Population Council for clinical trials of RU-486, according to tax documents filed in 1995.
• Funds many abortion groups like Planned Parenthood
• In 2016, Philanthropy News Digest wrote, “Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation … helped finance development of the abortion drug RU486 in the 1990s and from 2001 to 2014 contributed more than $1.5 billion to abortion causes, including at least $427 million to Planned Parenthood and $168 million to the National Abortion Federation.”

Connections

Schickler's PRH association is key because PRH is funded by original investors of Danco, namely, the Packard Foundation (a foundation associated with billionaire abortion funder Warren Buffett) and Soros-funded Open Society Foundations.  Grossman is currently on staff at Ibis Reproductive Health, which, according to its website, is funded by Danco Laboratories.

The Population Council was funded by Packard and Open Society at the same time Grossman was a council Program Associate. Danco financier, the Buffett Foundation, funded Grossman-reviewed studies and others authored by Grossman (here and here). In past years, Buffett gave $78 million to the University of California — and according to the New York Times, Buffett is the primary financier of the Bixby Center's Ryan Residency Program at UCSF (where Daniel Grossman works) as well as the Family Planning Fellowship (a program Robyn Schickler is part of). In 2016, ProPublica revealed that “Buffett's main academic partner (receiving at least $88 million from 2001 to 2014) has been the University of California, San Francisco…” where Grossman is on staff.

Packard has also funded Grossman authored studies (here and here) including a study promoting the University of California's ability to dispense abortion pills on campus. Packard funded UC for years, including regular grant dollars to UC. In addition, Packard funds Ibis Reproductive Health and UCSF where (as previously stated) Grossman is on staff.

Published with permission from Live Action News.