Gloria Feldt, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America for the past eight years, has resigned as president of that lethal organization—lethal because during Feldt’s tenure Planned Parenthood performed more than 1,370,000 abortions in its own facilities.
When Feldt became president in 1996 Planned Parenthood’s abortion income was about $50 million. In 2004 the abortion income rose to $104 million. In 1996 abortion accounted for 27.6 percent of clinic income. At the end of her tenure it accounted for more than 36 percent of clinic income. During Feldt’s presidency, however, affiliates across the country dropped from 147 to 122 and clinics dropped from 938 to 850.
Picketing Feldt in Arizona
Prior to her appointment as President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Feldt was director of the Planned Parenthood facility in Phoenix, AZ. I picketed her abortion mill during Holy Week in 1996, just before she was named to the national position. Ann and I and our younger children were visiting our daughter, Catherine who was studying at Arizona State University at the time. The whole family joined Arizona Right to Life in a protest at the Phoenix clinic.
There was a large turnout for the protest, which may have been one reason Feldt was happy to leave Arizona for the more hospitable environment of Washington DC. But the nation’s capital may no longer be as hospitable a home for Planned Parenthood’s philosophy as it was under Bill Clinton in 1996. Perhaps Feldt anticipated a decline in Planned Parenthood’s popularity with the Congress, which has traditionally provided the bulk of PP’s funding.
Electoral Fallout?
Jim Sedlak, director of American Life League’s STOPP Planned Parenthood, says he believes Feldt quit because Planned Parenthood lost so big in the last election. They supported John Kerry, tried unsuccessfully to defeat a parental notification amendment, and fought against defining marriage as between a man and a woman only, which won in all eleven states where it was voted on.
Karen Pearl, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Nassau County in New York, has been announced as interim president.
Thanks to STOPP Planned Parenthood for statistics on Planned Parenthood’s facilities and abortion involvement.
