Planned Parenthood affiliate begs lawmakers for cash, projects nearly $9M deficit in coming years

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) is calling upon sympathetic lawmakers to funnel more cash into their coffers due to a potential $8.6 million deficit within the next three years. The affiliate, which operates 15 centers, including abortion facilities across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, reportedly ended the year with a deficit of $5 million dollars.

The affiliate tweeted on August 1, “… [T]o continue providing this lifesaving care into the future, we urgently need law makers to commit to providing us with adequate funding to take care of the most vulnerable community members….”

However, though the NPR news affiliate reporting on the deficit  blamed a loss of funding under the Trump Administration’s “Protect Life Rule” (which prohibited Title X family planning dollars from funding facilities that committed abortions), in reality, PPNNE and Planned Parenthood national voluntarily withdrew from the program rather than cease committing abortions.

“In 2019, PPNNE and Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country were forced out of the Title X program by the Trump-Pence administration’s ‘Gag Rule’ … However, the Gag Rule prohibits Title X providers from giving patients referrals for abortion care and imposes further rules, making it impossible for PPNNE to participate in the program,” the Planned Parenthood affiliate wrote.

Planned Parenthood Projects $8.6 million Deficit in Coming Years

“The organization ended the most recent fiscal year with a projected deficit of at least $5 million, or about one-sixth of its annual budget, interim CEO Nicole Clegg said during a news conference Thursday. They’re also projecting a deficit of $8.6 million over the next three years,” NHRP reported.

In a press released published at the PPNNE website, the Planned Parenthood affiliate wrote, “Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE), the region’s largest provider of family planning services, needs significant financial support to continue offering its lifesaving health care services across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, said officials from the organization today… the organization is facing a projected financial deficit of $8.6 million over the next three years and could be forced to change how and where it offers services.”

PPNNE’s August 1, 2024, press release also blamed the deficits on “a significantly broken health care system and endless political attacks as the main drivers” as well as “Covid-19, inflation, insufficient reimbursement rates, and an increased demand for their free and discounted care” as things that have increased financial strain.

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England faces financial struggles that could affect patient se...

But pro-life groups are crying foul, suggesting the deficit is likely due to mismanagement of funds.

“According to PPNNE’s most recent audited statement, their public policy/lobbying budget almost doubled from $2.6M in FY22 to $4.7M in FY23, while the overhead for fundraising and ‘general and administrative’ services increased by over $1M. They also have already received substantial government subsidies over the past few years. On top of that, PPNNE has reportedly had trouble keeping a CEO,” New Hampshire Right to Life stated in an e-mail (emphases added).

Funding Claim Sleight of Hand

NHPR blamed the deficits on “Republicans’ efforts to block long-standing family planning funding.”

As Live Action News previously documented, in 2019, the Trump administration implemented a Title X rule change requiring abortion providers to keep their abortion services physically and fiscally separate from other services; Planned Parenthood made a calculated decision to prioritize abortion over legitimate health care for low-income clients.

As such, Planned Parenthood and its multiple affiliates, including PPNNE, chose to reject $60 million in Title X taxpayer dollars while continuing to receive hundreds of millions from other state and federal taxpayer programs. At the same time, Planned Parenthood was working behind the scenes with states to expand abortion and to replace that Title X funding and increase the amount of money funneled to Planned Parenthood.

This was reflected in PPNNE’s 2019 annual report, which stated: “PPNNE helped pass 6 pieces of beneficial legislation, including laws to require the state Medicaid program and private insurance plans that cover prenatal care to also cover abortion, and to allow qualified advance practice clinicians to provide abortion care.”

And while the $5 million dollar deficit is being partly blamed on cuts to Title X, PPNNE’s 2019 AR claimed the affiliate only received about $1.8 million annually.

But despite crying ‘poor’ to the media in 2024, the fact is that after the Biden-Harris Administration reinstated the Title X funds for abortion providers in 2021, PPNNE claimed in a news release, “When PPNNE was forced out of the Title X program, both Vermont and New Hampshire filled the gap. This year, however, New Hampshire state budget writers did not include this funding to address the gap, even though they were aware of the direct impact the loss of funds would have on patients at these providers.”

Despite the loss of federal Title X dollars, PPNNE reported that in 2019, “PPNNE helped ensure that the state budget restored the state STD prevention program, which was eliminated in 2012, and provided replacement funding so that all NH Federal Family Planning/Title X providers impacted by the Gag Rule could continue meeting patient needs.”

Planned Parenthood Increased Abortions 

“Since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022, PPNNE has served 7,800 abortion patients from 32 states plus D.C.,” PPNNE’s press release stated.

In 2017, PPNNE recorded 3,414 abortions in their annual report. The affiliate also recorded a net profit of approximately $3.5 million between the $25,579,308 total revenue and $22,126,508 expenses.

By 2018, abortions made up 5.5% of total PPNNE’s total ‘services’. The year prior to PPNNE’s departure from the Title X program to protect abortion, the affiliate was already bleeding dollars. In 2018, PPNNE recorded $24,802,319 in total revenue with expenses nearly the same, at $24,302,037. Still, the affiliate boasted that “Last year, PPNNE helped 3,554 individuals access abortion care.”

Spending at the affiliate was also directed towards transgender services. “In 2017, donor support helped to launch the Transcare Fund. In 2018, we provided over $30,000 in financial support to help 175 patients afford gender affirming hormone therapy – care that is often not covered by insurance plans, or by public family planning funding,” PPNNE wrote.

By 2019, abortions at PPNNE rose from 5.5% of total services recorded in 2018 to 6% of PPNNE’s total services in 2019. In addition, the same year Planned Parenthood affiliates voluntarily removed themselves from Title X, PPNNE saw a $1.5 million net gain between the $27,232,305 in revenue and $25,696,074 in expenses recorded in 2019.

And, despite the alleged Title X losses, PPNE’s 2019 report claimed the facility had made “renovations” that year.

To further demonstrate PPNNE’s abortion focus, during the COVID-19 pandemic, PPNNE again increased abortions from 6% of services in 2019 to 7% of total services by 2020 — where the percentage remained in 2021 and 2022.

“In 2022 Vermont passed the Reproductive Liberty Amendment and in the same year, PPNNE had to close five health centers across the state,” claimed PPNNE’s CEO.

Annual reports filed by PPNNE in 2023 reveal that abortion services jumped again — this time, to a whopping 10% of the affiliate’s services. The Planned Parenthood affiliate’s July 2022-June 2023 990 report indicates PPNNE increased its net assets over $1.2 million above 2021.

“During 2020, PPNNE obtained $2,717,300 under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act PPP loan program,” PPNNE’s 2023 financial audit reported.

During the year ending June 30, 2022, PPNNE “received Phase 3 of PRF reconsideration funds in the amount of $1,330,796 and Phase 4 of PRF in the amount of $1,064,098. Additionally, during 2022, HHS released the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Rural Payments to providers who serve rural Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries. PPNNE received $197,308 of ARPA Rural Payments,” the audit also stated.

Dwindling PPNNE Cash Reserves Could Result in ‘Clinic Closures’

Interim CEO Clegg told NHPR that the affiliate’s financial struggles were due to “rising costs, low reimbursement rates from insurers and more demand for free and discounted care.”

“Clegg said Vermont provides state funding for reproductive health services at Planned Parenthood, but Maine and New Hampshire do not,” NHPR added.

According to PPNNE’s CEO, the Planned Parenthood affiliate is not planning to make any immediate cuts. “The organization has been able to use cash reserves to offset deficits so far, but she said those reserves are dwindling. And if nothing changes, she warned that they could consider clinic closures or other cuts to services,” NHPR reported.

Jason Hennessey, President of New Hampshire Right to Life, called the Planned Parenthood affiliate an “extreme organization” which is part of the larger corporation that “push[es] to legalize aborting healthy 7, 8, and 9 month children.”

As such, Hennessey believes that PPNNE doesn’t “deserve to be bailed out by the taxpayer.”

“Instead of increasing their overhead by millions of dollars last year – including nearly doubling their lobbying budget to $5 million – Planned Parenthood should offer services that people really want,” Hennessey added. “Planned Parenthood could seek to empower the many women who want to choose life for their child instead of just offering abortion to them.”

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