A recent headline from the liberal website Salon.com declares: "GOP's Case Against Planned Parenthood Collapses: Jason Chaffetz Admits He Uncovered No Wrongdoing,"[1]
According to the (also liberal) Huffington Post, "Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Thursday that the GOP's investigation into Planned Parenthood's use of federal funds hasn't turned up anything. 'Did I look at the finances and have a hearing specifically as to the revenue portion and how they spend? Yes. Was there any wrongdoing? I didn't find any,' he said during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the family planning provider."[2]
Conspicuously absent from both presentations was any discussion of the question of what financial backing Rep. Chaffetz enjoys - and whence it issues.
This ought to seem somewhat strange. Those characterized (usefully or not) as politically "left-of-center" often (and not without warrant) lament the disproportionate power exerted in politics by plutocrats. For instance, U.S. President William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton's former Secretary of Labor and American economist, Robert Reich, warns that "[e]conomic and political power can’t be separated because dominant corporations gain political influence over how markets are maintained and enforced...".[3]
The popular "...Occupy Wall Street movement was borne out of outrage against income inequality and corporate influence over government."[4]
Yet, beside receiving money from the usual suspcts (including, without limitation, unspecified "Accountants," "Law Firms" and "Lobbyists"), Chaffetz collected sizeable contributions from donors working in the pharmaceutical industry.[5]
The watchdog website OpenSecrets.org reported that Chaffetz received $28,000 from "Pharmaceuticals" alone. In fact, we read that, except for what he obtained from such other bland sources as those issuing from "Insurance," "Lobbyists" and "Misc Business," Chaffetz accepted more money ($38,500) from the "Health" field than any other listed.[6]
To put these numbers in perspective, roughly stated, Chaffetz - a Republican - received between 6 and 8 times more more from persons working in "pharmaceuticals" and "health" than from donors with declared interests in "Gun Rights" and "Oil & Gas."[7]
It would be interesting to discover more about Chaffetz's connections to Big Pharma. After all, Planned Parenthood certainly advertises itself as involved in the field of "health." One statement reads: "Planned Parenthood health centers around the country offer you the health care you need."[8]
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Planned Parenthood seemingly also gets a "pass" from having to defend itself against the usual liberal, "anti-corporate" scrutiny.[9]
This is the case even though Planned Parenthood is far from a "mom and pop" operation. In its "Annual Report" for 2013-2014, it reported a total revenue stream of $1,303,400,000.[10]
Of course, Planned Parenthood (famously or infamously) claims that abortions comprise only 3% of its "services."[11] This claim has been analyzed and criticized elsewhere.[12]
For present purposes, let us assume that the 3% figure is true. Planned Parenthood further claims that 34% of its services are describable with the term "Contraception."[13]
Given Planned Parenthood's claims to be a "health center" and to have received 34% of its revenue from pharmaceutical "contraceptives," it seems interesting (and possibly highly relevant) that Jason Chaffetz - tasked with "investigating" Planned Parenthood for possible abuses - receives a considerable portion of his contributions from undisclosed persons and agencies operating in the fields of "health" and "pharmaceuticals."
I will give the final word to Rose Holz, professor of "gender studies" at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. In her The Birth Control Clinic in a Marketplace World, in which she discusses "the new collaboration between [abortion and birth control] clinics and [pharmaceutical] manufacturers," she writes: "[I]t is clear that a dramatic new relationship [is] now emerging between Planned Parenthood and the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry... [T]he organization at all its levels saw in pharmaceutical companies an amazing source of power...".[14]
See also:
Opposing Abortion as the Liberal Thing to Do.
Notes:
[1] Salon, Oct. 9, 2015, <http://www.salon.com/2015/10/09/gops_case_against_planned_parenthood_collapses_jason_chaffetz_admits_he_uncovered_no_wrongdoing/>.
[2] Jennifer Bendery, "GOP Probe Into Planned Parenthood Funding Comes Up Empty
Jason Chaffetz Says He's Found No Evidence of Wrongdoing by the Family Planning Provider," Huffington Post, Oct. 8, 2015, updated Oct. 9, 2015, <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jason-chaffetz-planned-parenthood-funding_5616ed01e4b0dbb8000de134?utm_hp_ref=politics>.
[3] Robert Reich, "Why Big Tech May Be Getting Too Big," Robert Reich [dot] org, Sept. 22, 2015, <http://robertreich.org/post/129646556930>.
[4] "The Occupy Movement: Where It Came From and Where It's Going," Politics and Policy, <http://politicsandpolicy.org/article/occupy-movement-where-it-came-and-where-its-going>.
[5] "Rep. Jason Chaffetz," Open Secrets [dot] org, <https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2016&cid=N00028958&type=I&newmem=N>.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid. Chaffetz received $5,000 each from contributors in the latter two categories. $28,000/$5,000=5.6 and $38,500/$5,000-7.7.
[8] "General Health Care," Planned Parenthood, <https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/general-health-care>.
[9] Of course, the fact that Planned Parenthood has international status as a "federation," and domestic status as a "non-profit organization," means little for present purposes. On the other side of the ideological spectrum, the Koch Brothers are routinely castigated for their political meddling despite the fact that many of their efforts are facilitated via non-profit organizations. For example, the Washington Post reported: "The Washington Post and the Center for Responsive Politics identified a coalition of allied conservative groups active in the 2012 elections that together raised at least $407 million, backed by a donor network organized by the industrialists Charles and David Koch. Most of the funds originated with two groups, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce and TC4 Trust, both of which routed some of the money through a Phoenix-based nonprofit group called the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR)." Matea Gold, "The Players in the Koch-Backed $400 Million Political Donor Network," Jan. 5, 2014, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-players-in-the-koch-backed-400-million-political-donor-network/2014/01/05/714451a8-74b5-11e3-8b3f-b1666705ca3b_story.html>.
And again: "[O]ne of the biggest political operations in the country ...[is] a sprawling network of politically active nonprofit groups backed by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch and other conservative donors." Matea Gold, "An Amazing Map of the Koch Brothers Massive Political Network," Washington Post, Jan. 6, 2014, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/01/06/mapping-the-koch-brothers-massive-political-network/>.
In fact, Gold suggests that: "The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch ...cloaks its donors...". Matea Gold, "Koch-Backed Political Network, Built to Shield Donors, Raised $400 Million in 2012 Elections," Washington Post, Jan. 5, 2014, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/koch-backed-political-network-built-to-shield-donors-raised-400-million-in-2012-elections/2014/01/05/9e7cfd9a-719b-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html>.
It appears therefore that any dismissive rejoinder, to the effect that Planned Parenthood, being a "non-profit," cannot be counted as "corporate influence," simply won't do. Else, the Koch Brothers' non-profits would seemingly be harmless as well.
[10] Planned Parenthood, "Our Health, Our Decisions, Our Moment," annual report, 2013-2014, p. 21, <https://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/6714/1996/2641/2013-2014_Annual_Report_FINAL_WEB_VERSION.pdf>.
For reference, the London-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, the San Francisco-based brokerage firm Charles Schwab and the Minnesota-headquartered electronics retailer Best Buy report profits in the $1.2 - 1.4 billion range. See, e.g., "The World's Biggest Public Companies," Forbes, <http://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/>.
[11] Planned Parenthood, …annual report, op. cit., p. 17.
[12] For an analysis, see e.g., Michelle Ye Hee Lee, "For Planned Parenthood Abortion Stats, '3 Percent' and '94 Percent' Are Both Misleading," Washington Post, Aug. 12, 2015, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2015/08/12/for-planned-parenthood-abortion-stats-3-percent-and-94-percent-are-both-misleading/>.
For criticism, see Matthew Clark, "Washington Post Calls Claim That 'Abortion is Only 3% of What Planned Parenthood Does' a Lie," Life News, Aug. 13, 2015<http://www.lifenews.com/2015/08/13/washington-post-calls-claim-that-abortion-is-3-of-what-planned-parenthood-does-a-big-lie/>.
[13] Planned Parenthood, …annual report, op. cit., p. 17.
[14] Rose Holz, The Birth Control Clinic in a Marketplace World, Rochester, N.Y.: Univ. of Rochester Press; Suffolk [U.K.]: Boydell & Brewer, 2014, p. 101; archived online at <https://books.google.com/books?id=646mAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101>.
