From its beginning, Planned Parenthood has been an organization that championed surgical abortion. In many of its plans and documents, PP talks about the need for abortion as “a necessary back-up for contraceptive failure.”

Planned Parenthood opposes every attempt to put even the slightest restriction on abortion. In 1989 it opposed a Massachusetts bill, which would have made sex-selection abortions illegal.

Planned Parenthood “counseling” is geared towards getting pregnant women to abort their babies. Paula Molloy of Philadelphia tells of going to PP when she was pregnant and of the type of counseling she received. Paula said:

I found myself pregnant and went to the only place I knew—Planned Parenthood. There, the counselor began her coercive methods. I did not have any intention of signing myself up for an abortion. The counselor asked me what I was planning to do. I was not sure. The counselor said, “Surely you’re not planning on having this child, you can’t even afford our clinic let alone a baby.” She started to tell me the cost of baby clothes, food and medical expenses. She then said: “Do you want to end up on welfare? You have your whole life ahead of you. You won’t be able to travel or pursue a serious career.” I told her my parents would help. She asked me how old they were and how many children lived at home. After I answered, her comment was “Are you not being selfish to place this burden of responsibility on your parents? They have already raised their children and it was their turn to enjoy each other.” I then asked about adoption and she started to talk about child abuse cases. Then she added that I was on the pill and the fetus would suffer serious medical and physical complications. I made an appointment for the abortion that day.

This type of “counseling” occurs frequently at PP. A study made public by the U.S. Government’s General Accounting Office in 1989 reported that 35.2% of pregnant patients who go to PP centers have abortions, as compared with just 5.7% of patients who go to all family planning clinics. In addition, the GAO found one PP clinic where 86.4% of pregnant women had abortions!

In 1993, PP ran more than 100 abortion facilities in the United States and performed 134,277 abortions. This represents almost 9% of all the abortions in the country!