Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) helped Planned Parenthood trend on Thursday night, after she shared during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on "Birthing While Black: Examining America’s Black Maternal Health Crisis" that she is "a Planned Parenthood baby" and wanted to talk "talk about how many lives Planned Parenthood has saved and how many babies have been because of the prenatal care provided by Planned Parenthood." The congresswoman seemed to anticipate how bizarre her remarks might seem. "If you don’t believe it, and if you’ve never met a Planned Parenthood baby, I’m happy to let you know that I am one and that my mother received and relied on prenatal care from Planned Parenthood when she was pregnant with me," she also said.
Rep. @AOC: “Let’s talk about how many lives Planned Parenthood has saved & how many babies have been born because of the prenatal care provided by PP. And if you don’t believe it and if you’ve never met a Planned Parenthood baby, I’m happy to let you know that I am one." pic.twitter.com/GOcFikX34K
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 6, 2021
It doesn't matter whether or not we believe AOC. I will say, though, that I am glad she's born. We may vehemently disagree about abortion, but I wouldn't wish anyone to have been aborted, just as I wouldn't wish any mother to have to go through with having an abortion. But, back to her point. Her statement might tell her story, but every year there are hundreds of thousands of would-be AOCs whose story will never get to be told.
Yes, Planned Parenthood provides prenatal services, or so they say. According to their own most recent annual report from 2019-2020, there were 8,626 prenatal services. When it comes to how many abortions, however, there were 354,871. The organization performs more abortions than any entity in the United States.
By these numbers, then, it would make more sense to say that "a Planned Parenthood baby" is one who never actually got the chance to be born, since he or she would have been lost to abortion.
Sorry @AOC
— Michael New (@Michael_J_New) May 6, 2021
Between 2009 and 2019, the number of prenatal services offered by Planned Parenthood fell by 72%.
During the same time period, abortions increased by 7%.
Planned Parenthood prioritizes abortion -- not prenatal care.https://t.co/W16CfclBjT
It's almost certain that there were more prenatal services when AOC's mother was pregnant with her. That's because legitimate healthcare services, like prenatal care and cancer screenings (which don't include mammograms, by the way), have declined steadily over the years, as abortions and taxpayer funding received has gone up.
Live Action is a pro-life organization which exposed Planned Parenthood through numerous undercover investigative projects for over a decade. One such project, from 2017, found that several Planned Parenthood centers which advertised prenatal care do not actually provide these services, and instead focus on abortion.
You've surely heard the claim that abortion is only 3 percent of what Planned Parenthood does. First of all, that's 3 percent too many. But, even the pro-abortion Slate said the figure was "meaningless." And fact-checkers at the Washington Post admitted it is misleading. Both the above outlets note that Planned Parenthood "unbundles" their services by counting them in this way, and that each service is far from equal. A woman may even be counted for multiple services at one visit.
When it comes to the 10,374,069 services in that time period, the 354,871 is 3.42 percent of that. But, looking at it another way, is using the numbers Planned Parenthood hides in a footnote: "A service is a discrete clinical interaction, such as the administration of a physical exam or STI test or the provision of a birth control method. In 2019, Planned Parenthood health centers saw 2.4 million patients, collectively delivering more than 10.4 million services."
It's also sadly ironic that Planned Parenthood would be referenced in such a positive light at a hearing on "America’s Black Maternal Health Crisis." Alexis McGill Johnson, who is the abortion giant's president and CEO, acknowledged the racism of their founder, Margaret Sanger. Well, she sort of did. I say "sort of" in part because she still failed to address how black babies are aborted at such high rates, that in some parts of the country more of them are aborted than born. Planned Parenthood knows this, and they take advantage of it by strategically placing their clinics and megaclinic abortion centers in minority-majority communities. While black women make up about 13 percent of women in America, they account for 38 percent of abortions, more than any other demographic.
These statements might make me the most sad I've felt for the squad member, actually, because her statements are not at all based in reality, except for the one she and Planned Parenthood create. It's also frustrating when AOC felt the need to clap back at those who would dare to disagree with her on the issue. "And so if we are concerned about life, we don’t get to talk about anyone else who is not concerned about the whole spectrum of that when we are upholding policies that kill people," she also claimed.
The committee was also trending under "birthing people." As Reagan reported earlier today, one of the newest squad members, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) used that term when talking about pregnant women who give birth.