November 30, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) continues to present itself as a simple organization that depends on government assistance to serve women’s health, but a new report highlights just how lavishly the abortion giant compensates its top executives.
Between 2015 and 2017, the average compensation for a PPFA affiliate CEO rose from $237,999 to $255,523, according to American Life League’s (ALL’s) 2018 report on the subject. The average compensation to top PPFA executives during that same period rose from $389,514 to $394,893.
“The results of our review show that some executives took pay cuts, but most saw increases to their already inflated salaries,” ALL executive director Jim Sedlak writes on ALL’s STOPP International website, summarizing the report’s findings.
Planned Parenthood paid all 56 of its affiliate CEOs a total of $14.3 million, from which all made at least six figures annually. Thirty-seven made more than $200,000, 14 made more than $300,000, eight made more than $400,000, and one made more than half a million dollars. As of 2017, former president Cecile Richards and outgoing executive vice president Dawn Laguens made $744,833 and $638,532, respectively.
Executive compensation is an often-misunderstood subject that in the private sector typically reflects performance. But at Planned Parenthood, performance seems to be measured more by government funding collected than by women treated.
Citing the example of California’s Planned Parenthood Mar Monte becoming the first-ever affiliate to exceed $100 million in revenue, the report notes it made record profits and subsequently rewarded its CEOs “not through a great marketing campaign or revolutionizing the delivery of health services, but by getting more taxpayer money.”
“It continues to be interesting that the highest paid CEOs are not from the largest affiliates,” Sedlak notes. “The CEO report shows that, at Planned Parenthood, operating a supposed ‘non-profit’ organization that supposedly provides health care to the poor, can be a very lucrative occupation. According to latest reports, anyone earning over $421,926 a year is in the top 1% of the population.”
In its most recent annual report, Planned Parenthood reported receiving $543.7 million in government grants and reimbursements, $318.1 million in private revenue, and $532.7 million in private donations. The group’s political arms, Planned Parenthood Votes and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, spent $20 million this year on political activity in just eight states.
Live Action argues that Planned Parenthood uses taxpayer funding as a “political money laundering scheme,” relying on medical reimbursements for its stated “services” so more of its private contributions can be redirected to partisan advocacy.
Despite Planned Parenthood’s massive income from both public and private sources, in recent years it has presided over sharp declines in actual medical services. Abortions rose 11 percent from 2010 to 2014, during which breast cancer screenings dropped 62 percent, pap tests 72 percent, and prenatal care 30 percent.
Nevertheless, the abortion giant claims that efforts to redirect its federal subsidies to women’s health providers not involved in abortion are really meant to “block people’s access to health care.”