Allegations against Planned Parenthood for deceptive marketing continue
While Planned Parenthood loses donors, closes facilities, and expands virtually to save costs, it may also be luring in clients with deceptive marketing practices to sell abortions or 'gender-affirming' services — and this has drawn the scrutiny of the Missouri Attorney General's office.
The organization committed over 402,000 abortions in its last reported year alone while receiving nearly $800M in taxpayer funding.
Key Takeaways:
Planned Parenthood's deceptive practices have taken center stage in a lawsuit filed by the Missouri Attorney General.
The AG has accused Planned Parenthood of false advertising regarding abortion pill safety and more.
Planned Parenthood's deception extends to its use of terminology or redefining of terms.
The Details:
Several accusations have been made against Planned Parenthood, both by the Missouri AG's office and by others. Some of them are below.
Accusation #1: “PP’s false advertising has national reach”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's Office recently claimed in a press release that “Planned Parenthood’s false advertising has a national reach,” stating that the abortion profiteer uses its “website to make dangerous claims” about the abortion pill and “systematically” misleads women.
While Live Action News previously documented the lawsuit’s filing, the official court document states that Planned Parenthood is “unable to hire enough physicians [and]... schemes for shortcuts." It continues:
Because it is easy for untrained nonphysicians to deliver abortion pills, Planned Parenthood has successfully increased the proportion of abortions that occur by abortion pill. Now, two-thirds of all abortions occur by pill, a significant increase from 2017, when the abortion pill was used in just over one-third of abortions.
Accusation #2: False claims of abortion pill safety
“Planned Parenthood falsely tells women that the abortion pill is ‘safer than many other medicines like penicillin, Tylenol, and Viagra,’” the Missouri AG stated in his lawsuit.
“That is brazenly false,” he wrote. “A single dose of the abortion pill regularly lands women in the emergency room. Not so for drugs like Tylenol, which are sold over the counter."
While Planned Parenthood claims that the abortion pill is safer than Tylenol, it fails to address why it is that the very drug it claims is far more dangerous is often recommended or even prescribed for pain relief during at-home chemical abortions by pill.
In a 2022 guide on 'medication abortion,' Planned Parenthood recommends abortion pill clients take Tylenol or acetaminophen “30 minutes before you use the misoprostol.”
“You may need to take acetaminophen for several days. You can purchase this medication over the counter from the pharmacy, it also is known as Tylenol Extra Strength,” the guide states.
And for cramps, the Planned Parenthood guide is clear that “If needed, you may also take Tylenol 1-2 tablets every 4-6 hours.”
Planned Parenthood 2022 abortion pill guide
Even online, Planned Parenthood claimed that after taking the abortion pill, “It is normal for you to have bleeding and cramping,” and recommended “Acetaminophen (like Tylenol) or ibuprofen (like Advil).”
“The FDA label for the abortion pill (known as mifepristone) recognizes that up to 4.6% of women who take a single dose of the abortion pill end up in the emergency room,” the court document states, yet, “A single dose of Tylenol certainly does not send nearly 5% of individuals to the emergency room.”
But Live Action News has documented that for decades, the abortion industry and Planned Parenthood have participated in a scheme to hide abortion pill complications by advising women to bypass the prescriber’s office (who are obligated – under the drug’s REMS requirements – to report complications) and present directly to an emergency room where they are told to lie about the abortion. This deception virtually guarantees that such complications will never be reported.
Accusation #3: Unfair or deceptive practices
Missouri’s AG filed his lawsuit against Planned Parenthood under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act (MMPA), described in the court document as “exceedingly broad” and covering “virtually every practice imaginable and every degree of unfairness.” The suit states, “In lying to, and misleading, women about the true risks of the abortion pill, Planned Parenthood Federation of America has committed unfair or deceptive practices actionable under the MMPA."
While the lawsuit seeks to “enjoin Planned Parenthood Federation of America from continuing to make illegal, false statements misrepresenting the abortion pill,” Live Action News has previously documented additional deceptive marketing techniques utilized on Planned Parenthood’s websites which are not addressed by the Missouri lawsuit, including:
Redefining when life begins
Changing terminology depending on the 'wantedness' of the preborn child
Descriptions of seeing the embryo during miscarriage versus the an abortion
Depicting the preborn child inaccurately as a blob or “dot”
Claiming the abortion pill is “safer than” multiple other drugs
Withholding information on abortion’s potential risks
Advertising ‘pregnancy options’ while heavily promoting abortion
Missouri's deceptive marketing lawsuit “seeks more than $1.8 million in civil penalties, up to $1,000 in damages or restitution for every Missouri woman Planned Parenthood provided abortion pills to in the past five years, reimbursement to the state for Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded emergency care resulting from abortion pill complications, and a court order for Planned Parenthood to stop certain advertisements for mifepristone,” claimed the Missouri Independent.
Accusation #4: False portrayals of prenatal care offerings
The Pennsylvania Family Institute recentlypublished findings from a review of Planned Parenthood locations across the Commonwealth, concluding that “multiple Planned Parenthood locations across the Commonwealth are advertising ‘Prenatal and Postpartum Services’ on their websites, yet none of the listed clinics actually offer prenatal care, the group, which provided the following screens as evidence, claimed.
“We called their facilities directly. Contrary to their advertising, not one Planned Parenthood in PA offers prenatal services. Zero,” PA Family chief strategist Dan Bartkowiak said.
“We caught them doing this in 2017. They quietly removed the listings. Now they’re back with the same false advertising, misleading vulnerable women, and taking your tax dollars to do it,” the organization wrote on its Facebook page.
Previously, undercover investigations conducted by Live Action also revealed that prenatal care has been not just difficult to find at Planned Parenthood facilities, but practically nonexistent. Even the workers themselves seemed baffled that anyone would call asking for prenatal services, which were advertised at the time on Planned Parenthood’s own website and later scrubbed.
Planned Parenthood’s national website is clear that only “some” Planned Parenthood facilities even offer prenatal care.
Prenatal care services at Planned Parenthood increased nearly 11% (~7k in 2023-24 up from ~6.3k in 2022-23), but the service has declined drastically over time by a staggering 77% from its high in 2010. Today, Planned Parenthood commits slightly more than 57 abortions for every one prenatal care service it provides. Since 2000, Planned Parenthood has aborted 7.5M preborn children, but provided just 323,286 prenatal care services.
Other Concerns:
Live Action News has detailed multiple times how Planned Parenthood has been described as one of the top U.S. providers of so-called “transgender” or “gender affirming care,” and now offers hormone replacement, puberty blockers, and even surgery referrals. The organization, which offers little by way of counseling, is increasing its targeting of minors in this space.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (the agency responsible for protecting consumers from deceptive/unfair business practices) announced at a recent workshop that investigations are underway to “examine whether some of the practices in gender-affirming care are deceptive and require greater scrutiny,” particularly for minors.
While not naming Planned Parenthood specifically, FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson stated, according to a transcript of the workshop:
As chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Congress has entrusted me with protecting citizens from deceptive acts and practices. And one of the reasons we are here today is examine whether some of the practices in gender-affirming care are deceptive and require greater scrutiny by the FTC…
While the FTC is still in its fact-finding state, Live Action News has documented the following:
Planned Parenthood (PP) normalizes the idea that gender can change anytime a person ‘feels’ like it.
PP claimed a child as young as two can know his or her “gender identity.”
A reportrevealed that PP is selling hormonal birth control as “gender-affirming care” to minor girls who wish to suppress their menstrual cycles without parental permission.
PP’s websites, social media pages, and “sex-ed” videos are filled with disturbing and misleading transgender propaganda, grooming children to be promiscuous and to reject biological sex, love, and commitment.
To file a complaint with the FTC, click this link.
The Bottom Line:
Planned Parenthood is not focusing on “healthcare” as it often claims. Its potentially deceptive marketing has resulted in lives destroyed, largely at taxpayer expense.
Analysis
