Episode 151 | It’s All About the $$$

[Intro with Music]:

Sometimes controversial, always politically incorrect, and pro-life without exception, without compromise, and without apology. It’s the Pro-Life America podcast with your hosts, Sarah Waites and the president of Life Dynamics, Mark Crutcher.

Sarah: Welcome back to the Pro-Life America Podcast. We hope everybody is having a wonderful week. I’m joined by my co-host, Sheila Crutcher. Morning, Sheila.

Sheila: Hello. Hi.

Sarah: Today we’re going to be talking about money. Because, as Mark used to say, to understand the abortion issue, just follow the money trail. And a bunch of these things are things that are going on right now in the news, and all of this shows how really the bottom line on the abortion industry is all about money.

Sheila: I mean, the abortion industry says, ‘oh, it’s all about, you know, women and women’s rights, reproductive issues.’ No. It’s about money.

Sarah: And the first thing we’re going to kick off with is last week, Mexico decriminalized abortion.

Sheila: Right.

Sarah: The Mexican Supreme court ruled last week that national laws prohibiting abortion are unconstitutional and violate women’s rights.

Sheila: Right.

Sarah: The Mexico Supreme court said, “Criminalization of abortion constitutes an act of gender based violence and discrimination, as it perpetuates the stereotype that women, and people with a capacity to get pregnant, can only freely exercise their sexuality to procreate and reinforces the gender role that imposes motherhood as a compulsory destiny.”

Sheila: Of course, you know, the abortion industry celebrated this.

 Sarah: Absolutely. But you know what? If we’re going to talk about gender based violence and discrimination, let’s talk about sex selective abortions, which happens all the time. And let’s talk about the women who are beaten and killed because they refuse to have abortions. Abortion fuels gender based violence and discrimination. It doesn’t solve it.

Sheila: Right abortion hurts women. It doesn’t help women.

Sarah: But the interesting thing is the ruling will not automatically make decriminalization the law of the land. So, the way that Mexico’s government works, Mexico’s two congressional chambers will now need to come together to pass an accompanying law eliminating abortion from the country’s penal code. This could be fast, or it could take years, as they have to decide the conditions under which abortion will be legal, including gestational limits, and provision to the general health law, which would set regulations at their state levels as well.

And the ruling will have limited impact for now on access until the federal public health system starts providing abortion services. But again, how quickly the federal services begin depends on who the president is and Mexico has got an election coming up soon.

Sheila: Right. And I want to point something out – how quickly this was done after the, uh, overturning of Roe versus Wade. I mean, some people were predicting that this was going to happen, including, you know, my dad, Mark.

Sarah: Absolutely.

Sheila: He’s often talked about this. He’s done blog posts about it. Y’all did a episode on the podcast about it.

Sarah: Yeah, that’s episode 113. And for anybody who wants to go listen to it, I will put the link in the description, you really should. Because really, Mexico has been looked at by the American abortion lobby as basically a safety net. So if legalized abortion went away overnight, they look to Mexico as an abortion destination.

Sheila: Right.

Sarah: And even in the news that I have seen, they talk about Mexico being an abortion destination for Americans.

Sheila: Right. My dad would always say, you know, that they would pop up abortion clinics right off the border overnight, and they would decriminalize abortion. And I mean, as soon as Roe versus Wade was overturned, then you had, you know, people start hauling abortion pills across the border. And so like immediately, the abortion industry tried to find ways to make abortion still accessible to Americans.

Sarah: Oh, absolutely.

Sheila: And now that Mexico has done this, they’ve put pressure on the Mexican government and they’ve done a lot of lobbying, because they saw that this day was coming. So they prepared for it.

Sarah: Well, and their lobbying has not been without some success. Up until this point, 12 of Mexico’s 31 states had decriminalized abortion.

And Mexico’s Supreme Court has been issuing several pro-abortion decisions before this. So in just one year, these are some of the decisions they made: they ruled one state’s abortion laws were unconstitutional, they ruled another state’s fetal personhood law unconstitutional; and then, not long after that, they limited the use of conscious objection by health staff by requiring the government to ensure that there are non objectors in all federal health facilities or nearby.

Sheila: Mm hmm. They’ve been working towards this, and so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with this.

Sarah: Mm hmm.

Sheila: Speaking of courts and stuff, uh, we had previously talked about Professor Amy Weisner, who was a professor at Michigan State University.

Sarah: Probably still is. She’s just on suspension. But yes.

Sheila: Yeah, she’s on leave. But she had basically forced her students to subscribe to her website. She said that it was required for her course.

Sarah: This website had a $99 membership fee. And she has forced already 600 students.

Sheila: And then it turns out that this money went to Planned Parenthood.

Sarah: Yeah, so she posted on Facebook, “The Rebellion Community is a safe space to coordinate our efforts to burn everything to the f*****g ground…” 

Sheila: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: “…100 percent of membership fees are donated to Planned Parenthood.”

Sheila: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so she was basically making her students donate to Planned Parenthood. Well, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney said that, she didn’t have to return the money. He said that it was “impractical, impossible, or it violated her First Amendment rights.”

Sarah: I’m sorry, but how is coercing people to fund your activism a First Amendment right?

Sheila: Right. Her students, that was required for her course. And this judge basically said it wasn’t required that she returned the money and that also she could continue on, you know, doing this.

Sarah: I’m not sure it’s necessarily impractical.

Sheila: Mm-hmm. So Michigan State had already refunded the money – so that’s not impractical to refund the money. The bottom line is, that this judge is probably just pro-abortion, and is like, ‘you know what, forget laws, forget, you know, the First Amendment rights, and all that. I’m pro abortion, and so I say this is okay.’

Sarah: And it’s not impractical or impossible to seek repayment, because, as we’ve seen, there are lawsuits right now doing this very same thing, right?

Sheila: Exactly! I mean another good example, is right now a Texas lawsuit against Planned Parenthood on medicaid funds. So they are bringing a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood over money received for “health services” before Texas removed them from the Medicaid program in 2021.

Sarah: Well, they started trying to remove them in 2015.

Sheila: Right, they’ve been doing it for a long time.

Sarah: And Planned Parenthood was fighting them and they weren’t officially out of the program until 2021. So Texas is seeking the return of that money during that litigation time. The rationale is Planned Parenthood knew, or should have known, it was not a qualified Texas Medicaid provider by operation of Texas law. So when they were taking that money, they knew they weren’t qualified for it.

Sheila: They’re filing this under the False Claims Act. Planned Parenthood says that the judgment could be in excess of one billion dollars.

Sarah: Yeah, because it’s 10 million to start with. Plus there are fines, and the fines for each violation could range from $5,500 to $11,000, if the court sides with the state.

Sheila: Right, and so obviously, you know, Planned Parenthood is going to try to fight this. And the president of Planned Parenthood, Alex McGill Johnson, says that it is a baseless case and that it is an active effort to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers.

Sarah: “It’s baseless.” It’s baseless that they return money that they were not entitled to because they were being stripped of their role as a Medicaid provider. (sarcasm)

In response to all this, Planned Parenthood has now come up with their own lawsuit where they are challenging the decades-old False Claims Act, on which this lawsuit was brought against them. Now, if you don’t know what the False Claims Act does, it allows whistleblowers, which are termed realtors, to sue on behalf of the government. And then the government has a choice of whether or not to intervene.

Sheila: Right.

Sarah: If the suit is successful, the relator is awarded a share of the recovery, which can be about 20 percent of the money. In this case, Texas has decided to intervene. One of the other states that was mentioned in this was Louisiana, and they have decided not to.

Planned Parenthood claims that the False Claims Act lets private citizens take on the role of government officials enforcing the law, violating the Constitution’s requirement that officials be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. However, the real reason why they’re upset about this is because of money.

Sheila: Right.

Sarah: And Planned Parenthood has been exposed, and investigated, and fined for over-billing Medicaid before.

Sheila: Right. And a lot of the stuff, you know, that could potentially hurt them is over financial stuff. And so that’s why they want to shut this whistleblower thing down – because they don’t want to have to continue fighting and being fined.

Sarah: Absolutely.

Sheila: And speaking of fighting, abortion advocates in Michigan are calling for the Democrat controlled legislature to finish lifting abortion restrictions, including limits on insurance coverage.

Sarah: Yeah. So basically right now, Michigan does not allow Medicaid to cover the cost of an abortion, except if the woman’s life is in danger or it’s a case of rape and incest. And the state also bans insurance companies from offering abortion coverage as part of their public and private plans, except when a woman’s life is at risk. Those who want abortion coverage have to buy supplemental policies.

Sheila: Right, and so they basically want insurance companies to provide abortion coverage. Unlimited.

Sarah: Oh, yeah, because that expands abortion, right?

 Sheila: Right, right.

Sarah: Absolutely. All this is part of the Reproductive Health Act, which is a package of bills centered around abortion, that’s being pushed by the governor. And one of the things that they’re pushing to be repealed are restrictions on abortion providers, or what they call TRAP laws, which essentially require providers to construct wider hallways that would allow gurneys, basically restroom sizes, HVAC systems that can reduce bacteria – those kind of things. But a higher up with Planned Parenthood said, “these medically irrelevant regulations were explicitly designed to create logistical hurdles that limit abortion providers’ ability to provide care and significantly increases costs, which in turn makes it difficult for providers like Planned Parenthood to operate, let alone build new health centers and expand into areas where they’re needed most.”

She also says, at the same time, “we are so excited abortion is finally being treated like all other health care in Michigan.”If it was treated like all other health care, they wouldn’t even consider pulling these kind of laws. Any kind of surgical center that provides outpatient surgical services has things like hallways that can allow gurneys, more sophisticated HVAC systems. I mean…

Sheila: These are standard requirements. And In the past, abortion advocates have always, you know, pushed against what would be considered standard requirements because it puts more pressure on Abortion providers.

Sarah: It comes down to money.

Sheila: Yeah.

Sarah: Like what this woman said, it comes down to money. It’s not about caring about the patients.

Sheila: It also is about making abortion more “accessible” because, like in the past, you’ve had abortion providers who fight against having access to hospitals and being partners with hospitals.

Sarah: Hospital Privileges. Yeah.

Sheila: Exactly. And this is just the exact same thing. They’re wanting abortion to be a free for all for everybody. And having these restrictions limits abortion.

Sarah: Like I said, these people may say that they want abortion to be treated like other healthcare, but they don’t. Anytime that there’s any sort of regulations put in place for patient safety, they balk at it as if it is some sort of political crusade. Despite the fact that restaurants have standards of safety. Nail salons have standards of health and safety. Outpatient surgical centers, same thing. So, I’m not sure why they think that they should be exempt from it.

So we know they don’t want to spend their money on these things, but what do they like to spend their money on? Well, we know they like to spend it on recruiting and training abortionists because they have an abortionist shortage.

They pour lots and lots of money into keeping abortion legal. But one of the big things they spend it on is CEO compensation.

Sheila: Mmm-hmm. Specifically Planned Parenthood.

Sarah: Yeah, in this case, we’re talking about Planned Parenthood. So a few months ago, American Life League released a report on Planned Parenthood CEO compensation. They examined the latest numbers available from Planned Parenthood affiliates across the nation.

The average CEO at Planned Parenthood [makes] $317, 564 as of 2020, which is an increase of 33 percent in the last five years. This places them at the 98th percentile of U.S. wage earners. Now, the highest paid CEO made $616, 926 a year.

Sheila: Mmm-Hmm.

Sarah: $600, 000.

Sheila: Well, it’s always been known that Planned Parenthood executives are paid really well.

Sarah: Well, the interesting thing is that Alexis McGill Johnson, who is the highest paid executive at the national organization – the head of Planned Parenthood – only made $67, 000 more than the highest paid CEO, which I thought was interesting.

Sheila: Mmm-Hmm. Yep.

Sarah: When you look at the numbers, there’s a few things that stand out. Of the 53 Planned Parenthood CEOs at the affiliate level, only four are African American. In fact, the lowest paid CEO was a black woman. She was paid less than the CEOs of 16 Planned Parenthood affiliates that produced less income than the one she presided over. The Planned Parenthood she operated was 36th on the income producing list of 53 Planned Parenthoods, yet she was the lowest paid CEO.

Another interesting thing is that 9 out of the 53 Planned Parenthood CEOs were males. But, 3 of those men are among the top 10 most highly compensated Planned Parenthood CEOs in the nation. In fact, the number two and three spots are held by men and their combined income was 1.16 million dollars per year.

And again, this is just the CEO, so this is the individual affiliates. This doesn’t include the headquarters in New York. And the average compensation for top executives for Planned Parenthood of America went from $237, 999 in 2015 to $421, 713 in 2021. So that’s an increase of about 77 percent – a dramatic rise.

Sheila: Mmm-Hmm.

Sarah: But every time the government starts to try to take away their funds, they say that, ‘we need the money for poor women.’

Sheila: Right.

Sarah: They claim that nearly 70 percent of their clients live at incomes at or below the poverty level. And yet, they have their CEOs making five hundred, six hundred thousand dollars a year.

Sheila: Well, the money doesn’t go to what they would call so-called health services, it goes to the organization and the people in the organization.

Sarah: It’s like Mark says, it’s all about the money. Just follow the money. And what you’ll see is that it’s about making money. It’s not about helping women. It’s not about expanding access. It’s about making money.

Sheila: Mmm-Hmm. And this week’s From the Mouth of Mark talks about money and it’s from a blog post, a June 2011 blog post titled, Is the Gravy Train Derailing? And Mark wrote, “Pouring tax dollars into this corrupt organization is a scandal that has been going on for decades. But now legislators all across the country are looking at the possibility of taking this money away. In response, Planned Parenthood, working in concert with its legion of toadies in the media, is squealing like pigs stuck under a fence. As we see every time this issue comes up, the very people who shriek the loudest that abortion is none of the public’s business, are always the first ones to demand that the public be forced to pay for them.”

Sarah: Yep, absolutely.

Sheila: So, as you know, more people fight against giving Planned Parenthood money, they’re gonna, like he said, start squealing like pigs because they don’t want the money taken away.

Sarah: Yep, and that’s why you see them concerned with all these states that are basically criminalizing abortion or putting limits in. They see that this is going to be cutting into their bottom line.

Sheila: Right.

Sarah: And you’re going to see states become abortion destinations. We’re going to see Mexico become an abortion destination. And the things that they’re going to be doing with the chemical abortions in order to circumvent laws on mechanical abortions.

Sheila: Yep, Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry is gonna do what they can to keep the money flowing.

Sarah: Yep, the money must flow.

Sheila: Mm hmm.

Sarah: Well, if you have a question about the abortion issue that you’d like us to answer, or if you have a topic you think we should be covering, you can always go to LifeDynamics.com/podcast. There’s a form right there on the page where we’ll take those questions. And make sure you follow the podcast on your favorite podcast platform. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and the list goes on.

Sheila: Mmm-Hmm. Yep. Well, until next time, Life Dynamics is not here to put up a good fight.

Sarah: We’re here to win.

Sheila: Because winning is how the killing stops.

Sarah: Thank you so much for joining us guys.

[End]