Calling Foul on the WNBA Seattle Storm’s Partnership with Abortion Giant Planned Parenthood

Truth should be a slam-dunk. Yet activists that support and defend Planned Parenthood just keep blocking the facts. The WNBA’s Seattle Storm co-owner, Dawn Trudeau, is taking pride in being the first sports team to partner with the nation’s leading abortion business. The team is donating $5 from every ticket sold for their upcoming July 18^th game. They’re hoping to raise over $100,000 for Planned Parenthood through this and various matching programs. Four of the Seattle Storm players appear in a PSA, reading from a teleprompter, to stand with Planned Parenthood. Oh, the irony of female players and owners celebrating an organization from which they were spared.

Trudeau claims that “the league leadership is very socially conscious”. Sadly, that doesn’t translate into being informationally conscious. Trudeau told Politico recently: “It is pretty clear that people are in danger of losing some of their health care.” Women have been losing healthcare at Planned Parenthood for the last decade. That should bea women’s rights violation. Trudeau and fellow co-owners, Lisa Brummel and Ginny Gilder (both lesbian activists), bought the Seattle Storm back in 2008. (LGBTQ activistsand organizations have declared their solidarity with “abortion rights” and Planned Parenthood.) In that year, FY2009, Planned Parenthood provided 830,312 manual breast exams. In FY2016, Planned Parenthood provided a measly 321,700 breast exams, which is a massive 61 percent drop. Planned Parenthood now officially commits more abortions than it administers breast cancer screenings. PAP tests declined from 904,820 in 2009 to 293,799 in 2016—a drop of 68 percent. Pre-natal care, which barely exists at Planned Parenthood, has also plummeted. In 2009, there were 40,489 pre-natal visits. In 2016, there were only 9,419—a huge drop of 77 percent.

Yet Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding continued to increase while major medical services to women drastically decreased. In 2009, taxpayers shelled out $362.2 million to fund the abortion chain. In 2016, we were forced to fund $554.6 million of Planned Parenthood’s $1.3 billion budget—a 53 percent increase. The so-called non-profit made a $77.5 million profit last year.

Trudeau told Politico: “For many women, Planned Parenthood is their only source of health care.” This is just a straight up lie. Planned Parenthood’s 650 centers serve less than 0.8 percent of the U.S. population. They are failing the public and should be defunded. Even if Planned Parenthood’s 2.4 million clients were all women, that would still be less than 2.4 percent of all women ages 15-64 in America. Ninety-eight percent of women, on an annual basis, are getting healthcare elsewhere. Perhaps it’s because there are thousands of other taxpayer-funded Title X facilities that offer much more healthcare than the political organization. Perhaps it’s because there are thousands of federally qualified health centers and community health centers that provide comprehensive healthcare to anyone. These centers have added 2.5 million new patients from 2013-2015. (Planned Parenthood has lost nearly 700,000 patients per year since Cecile Richards took over in 2006.)

These are the same taxpayer-funded health centers that provided 521,568 mammograms for women in 2015. Planned Parenthood provided zero mammograms. These health centers delivered 292,286 babies alive. Planned Parenthood delivered zero alive.

There are 9 Title-X-funded clinics in the area that don’t commit abortions. And there are 90 other taxpayer-funded medical facilities to meet the full spectrum of medical needs of women, men and children (see GetYourCare.org) within 25 miles of downtown Seattle. And, you can get far more general healthcare in the Seattle area from Rite Aid’s Redi Clinics, Walgreens’ Healthcare Clinics or Bartell Drugs’ Care Clinics than from Planned Parenthood (which claims they provide it, but it’s extremely limited in scope). Have Trudeau, Brummel or Gilder ever visited the eight pregnancy care centers that provide for mothers and their children in their area? It would really open their minds…and hearts.

Trudeau asked Politico: “Which is more egregious or has a bigger impact? Is it someone making a political statement or someone actually hurting another human being?”

If that’s the case, then Planned Parenthood has committed a disqualifying foul. They killed 323,99 human beings last year. Her political statement and her devoted support of an organization that actually hurts other human beings is egregious.

I’m grateful that my friends at Created Equal, ProtestPP, Prolife Action League and others will give Seattle Storm fans a reality check on who and what Planned Parenthood really is outside of Key Arena on July 18^th from 7p-9p PST. It sounds innocuous to say that you’re “supporting Planned Parenthood”. But it’s just a euphemism. The eugenics-born organization has killed millions since abortion was legalized in 1970 (in New York, where more black babies are aborted than born alive) and became nationwide through the supremely wrong Roe decision. Eighty percent of Planned Parenthood’s health services revenue now comes from the violence of abortion. Don’t let mainstream media try to fake you. “Professional sports franchises are free to do as they wish, but it is our responsibility to make sure they know that enabling child-killing will come at a significant cost to their bottom line and brand. Children are going to be violently torn apart if we do nothing as partnering with their killers becomes a corporate fad,” explained Mark Harrington who serves as the National Director of Created Equal.

Trudeau insists that girls need role models. Yes, girls and boys need good role models. They need people to look up to that don’t think it’s okay to harm the weak in order to appear strong. They need examples of those who will sacrifice for others instead of sacrificing others. They need less activism from those with power and more factivism.

Did you hear that sound? That’s the sound of truth going swish.

Ryan Bomberger is the Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of The Radiance Foundation. He is happily married to his best friend, Bethany, who also happens to be the Executive Director of Radiance. They are adoptive parents with four awesome munchkins. Ryan is a creative agitator and international public speaker who just loves illuminating that every human life has purpose.

The views expressed in opinion articles are solely those of the author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by Black Community News.