statement to commemorate Pelosi’s invitation. “As an immigrant, a mother, a doctor, and the president of Planned Parenthood, I am honored to attend the State of the Union as the guest of Speaker Pelosi,” Wen began. She continued with praise for the California politician:
“Last November, American voters — particularly women and women of color — sent a clear message: we want our elected representatives to protect and expand access to reproductive health care, including the right to safe, legal abortion. Planned Parenthood is proud to have Speaker Pelosi’s leadership of a pro-reproductive health House of Representatives. And we look forward to working with her to advance a pro-women, pro-family, and pro-economy agenda that affirms health care as a fundamental human right, and women’s rights—and all people’s rights—as human rights.”
All people’s rights – except for those of the unborn, that is. Planned Parenthood’s financial connection to Pelosi began long before the 2019 State of the Union. According to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, Planned Parenthood has given more than $27,000 to Pelosi in the past decade. Money Given to Nancy Pelosi, 2000 – 2018: 2018: $5,108 2016: $5,000 2014: $1,000 2012: $6,000 2010: $1,000 2008: $1,000 2006: — 2004: $5,000 2002: $3,500 2000: — TOTAL: $27,608 Pelosi also has Planned Parenthood to thank for giving more than $5.5 million to Democratic congressional candidates in the past ten years. Money Given to Democratic Congressional Candidates, 2000 – 2018: 2018: $806,596 2016: $773,837 2014: $688,454 2012: $882,010 2010: $343,460 2008: $560,797 2006: $187,442 2004: $556,497 2002: $416,210 2000: $392,024 TOTAL: $5,607,327 Not surprisingly, Planned Parenthood gave just $203,913 to Republican congressional candidates during that same time period. Those numbers are still a drop in the bucket compared with Planned Parenthood’s total budget. According to its most recent annual report, for 2017 – 2018, Planned Parenthood performed 332,757 abortions in the past year and received $563.8 million in federal funding or “Government Health Services Reimbursements & Grants.” Abortion, and helping women access it, can be grounds for automatic excommunication in the Catholic Church. (Even though, at the same time, Pope Francis stresses boundless mercy for women seeking forgiveness.) The gravity the Church places on ending unborn lives doesn’t seem to trouble Pelosi, a self-described practicing Catholic. In 2015, Pelosi told The New York Times that she agreed “with the pope on more issues than many Catholics who agree with him on one issue.” She later added that the “church has their position, and we have ours, which is that a woman has free will given to her by God.” That’s good enough for Wen, who considers abortion her organization’s core mission. She worries about the president though. Just before attending the address as a guest, Wen warned in a Twitter video that President Trump might bring up abortion. “I understand that President Trump is going to be attacking abortion access tonight,” she said. “That would be a direct attack on women’s rights and access to healthcare. Reproductive health care is health care. Women’s health care is health care. And health care is a fundamental human right.” Wen sadly forgets life is a fundamental human right too. Life, not death, is what health care is meant to foster – and its beauty and dignity is something money will never be able to calculate.]]>