Follow the money: The people saying abortion is ‘safe’ have major financial reasons to do so

“Follow the money.” This well-known saying definitely applies to studies done by the abortion industry and funded by abortion power players, which claim that abortion is perfectly safe. Currently, there are no federal requirements to report abortion complications — yet abortion advocates misleadingly point to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) report from 2018 , which claims abortion is safe and effective. The report was sponsored in part by foundations with possible profit motives (a huge conflict of interest), namely Warren Buffett (the Buffett Foundation) and the Packard Foundation, which seeded the start-up of the abortion pill manufacturer DANCO Laboratories, LLC.

In addition, one of the study “reviewers” of the report was Dr. Daniel Grossman, a well-known abortion trainer pushing to expand self-managed (at-home) abortions. Grossman is leading the charge to get rid of the Food and Drug Administration’s safety protocols on the abortion pill.

Abortion advocates often fail to mention that this report was funded by abortion collaborators and organizations behind abortion expansion efforts.

The JPB Foundation

According to 990 tax records filed online, the JPB Foundation, which Forbes once called “one of the top 40 foundations by asset size in the nation,” has contributed millions to Planned Parenthood in the past few years, making them one of the largest donors to the abortion corporation:

• 2011 – $73,993

• 2012 – $3,250,000

• 2013 – $4,500,000

• 2014 – $4,500,000

• 2015–  $6,500,000

JBP has also contributed large sums of money to pro-abortion groups like the Guttmacher Institute and the Center for Reproductive Rights. JPB Foundation has also been credited with funding projects for The Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. Live Action News previously reported that the Bixby Center trains abortion providers though its Ryan Residency Training Program.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Packard is a long-time abortion philanthropist.

• Packard originally invested (1996) in the abortion pill manufacturer, DANCO Laboratories, when it “ran short on funds” and had “difficulty attracting investors.” Packard seeded DANCO with $14.2 million. Packard’s 990s for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2009 show ongoing support for DANCO.

• Packard has also invested heavily in the generic abortion pill manufacturer, GenBioPro. Packard’s recent IRS document reveals they gave $2 million to GenBioPro in 2015, $185,000 in 2016, and 100,000 in 2017.

• Packard would go on to fund Gynuity Health Projects, which is currently conducting abortion pill clinical trials as well as a number of studies, to further expand the drug’s use.

• Packard funds studies (published in Journal Contraception) that claim self-managed abortion and reversing REMS (FDA’s safety protocols) is safe; their conflict of interest as an abortion pill investor was not noted.

• Packard funds Ibis Reproductive Health, which, as recently as January 2020, was also funded by DANCO Laboratories.

The TROUBLING History of the ABORTION PILL

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

• Gives millions of dollars to abortion groups like NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and the National Abortion Federation.

• Funds Gynuity Health Projects, UCSF, and the Guttmacher Institute.

• Has goal “to expand access to abortion.”

• Funds abortion pill studies.

• Funded the Turnaway Study.

Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation

The Buffett Foundation (as in billionaire Warren Buffett) is another abortion philanthropy foundation which funds abortion groups like Planned Parenthood.

• Buffett also gave funding for “the development of mifepristone [abortion pill].”

• In 2000, the Washington Post wrote, “The Buffett Foundation… made at least $2 million in interest-free loans to the Population Council [which brought the abortion pill to the U.S. and started DANCO], according to tax documents filed in 1995. That money was in turn used to conduct clinical trials of RU-486 [the abortion pill].”

• In past years, Buffett gave $78 million to University of California where abortion pill expansion trials take place.

• In 2016, ProPublica revealed that “Buffett’s main academic partner (receiving at least $88 million from 2001 to 2014) has been the University of California, San Francisco” where Dr. Daniel Grossman is on staff. Grossman is currently running abortion pill (pharmacy dispension) clinical trials.

• Today, Buffett also funds studies (and authors) that claim expanding the abortion pill’s distribution is safe.

Tara Health Foundation (THF) 

• THF has pledged to fund abortion pills on college campuses in California.

• THF is funded by the Buffett Foundation, an original investor in DANCO.

• THF published a strategy which included a push for “home use” abortion and elimination of the FDA’s REMS safety rules.

• THF funds IBIS Reproductive Health, which is funded by the Packard Foundation, and as recently as January 2020 was also funded by abortion pill manufacturer DANCO. 

The Grove Foundation

• Receives funds from the original investor of DANCO, the Packard Foundation.

• Funds Planned Parenthood (and has for years).

• Funds the University of California San Francisco, which trains abortion providers.

• Managing Director for Grove Foundation Action Fund, Rebecca S. Butler, is the previous public policy associate for Planned Parenthood’s former “special affiliate,” the Guttmacher Institute, according to Butler’s LinkedIn page.

• Chairman Karen Grove, who is also president of the Grove Action Fund, serves on board of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM), a clinical trials site for abortion pill expansion.

A simple look at abortion consent forms reveal that there are, in fact, serious complications associated with abortion— even early surgical or chemical abortions. In addition, the forms reveal that if a complication occurs, the woman — not the abortion facility — may be held financially responsible for continued care once transferred to a hospital. Today, legal abortion is sold as a “safe” procedure, but Live Action News has documented several cases of women who have died in recent years from legal abortion, including Cree Erwin, Tonya Reaves, Lakisha Wilson, Keisha Marie Atkins, Diamond Williams, and others. Recent deaths are almost never reported by the mainstream media.

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