Why is Planned Parenthood of Illinois promoting baby showers and prenatal care?

Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) recently promoted a "second annual" baby shower for "Black birthing people," claiming it is "committed to improving Black maternal health" and insinuating that offering these items will help them to have "happy and healthy birthing experiences."

Baby showers are great things, but is the nation's top abortion organization truly looking to help pregnant women who want to parent their children?

Key Takeaways:

• Planned Parenthood has issued a press release announcing an upcoming community baby shower in Chicago.

• It will feature information about PPIL’s Bridges to Prenatal Care program, which is reportedly operating out of four centers in Illinois, one of the nation's foremost abortion havens.

• Though Planned Parenthood purports to be willing to provide for pregnant women who want to keep their children, even its prenatal care program still promotes abortion.

• Planned Parenthood has previously deceived the public about the extent of its prenatal care, scrubbing its website of the evidence when the truth was exposed.

The Details:

In a press release, PPIL announced the upcoming baby shower, which is reportedly free to the public. They promise food, giveaways, and information booths, including information about PPIL's Bridges to Prenatal Care program.

“We know that Black birthing people are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts,” Jameika Sampson, Senior Director of Health Equity for PPIL, said. “Planned Parenthood of Illinois is committed to improving Black maternal health and taking part in the 2nd annual Community Baby Shower is a meaningful way we're connecting people with the resources they need to have happy and healthy birthing experiences." 

Sampson added:

"PPIL’s Bridges to Prenatal Care program provides early intervention prenatal services and connects patients with an OB, Certified Midwife, or other full-service prenatal care provider for the duration of their pregnancy. The Bridges program offers care in areas that are prenatal care deserts, including the South and West sides of Chicago, and addresses health equity issues specifically in the Black community due to systemic racism.”

To those who are informed about Planned Parenthood's history — even in recent years, with employees accusing the corporation of racism — this will likely seem very strange.

Prenatal Care and Planned Parenthood: Marketing vs. Reality

The wish list for women who attend the baby shower includes clothing, diapers, wipes, bottles, and more. While the idea — helping pregnant women who want to keep their children — is a good one, it is puzzling when the organization appears to be claiming that giving pregnant women diapers and baby supplies will make pregnancy safer, particularly.

And while systemic racism and injustice likely has contributed to the disproportionately high maternal mortality rates for Black women, it is unclear how an organization that helps to disproportionately target the preborn children of Black women is going to help to lessen racism or injustice. In 2024, Live Action News noted, "In 2022, CDC data revealed... Black Americans made up 11.7% of people living in the United States but accounted for 39.5% of abortions."

And another article from Live Action News reported:

Planned Parenthood has claimed that 50% of its clients are “people of color” with “more than 511,000 patients identify[ing] as Latino, and roughly 351,000 patients identify[ing] as Black.”

Zoom In:

The baby shower, as mentioned in the press release, is promoting PPIL's Bridges to Prenatal Care program, which appears to be only available for Black women. It is promoted as a way to lower disparities in health care and improve health outcomes with the website listing four Planned Parenthood facilities offering the program in Illinois. What the program provides is limited.

It includes just three visits, a dating ultrasound, and provides clients a list of other OB/GYNs where they can receive further prenatal care. In Planned Parenthood's pregnancy packet given to women in the program, abortion is still promoted as an option (emphasis added):

If you are pregnant, you have a lot to think about right now. Thoughts about your future, family, health, and your partner are probably taking up much of your time and attention. You have several choices available to you concerning your pregnancy: continuing the pregnancy and becoming a parent, continuing the pregnancy and making an adoption plan, or ending the pregnancy by having an abortion. You have the right to choose the option that you feel is most acceptable to you.

Illinois is an abortion haven; it heavily promotes abortion funds and funnels significant funding toward abortion. The state is so extreme that it's been attempting to force pro-life pregnancy centers to refer clients for abortions, while refusing to require licensing for abortion businesses in the state.

In other words, the motives here should be questioned.

The Big Picture:

Planned Parenthood has long attempted to paint itself as a legitimate health care provider, though this is false; far from being an organization upon which countless women rely, it serves just 2% of American women of reproductive age; furthermore, according to its own annual reports, the few health care services it provides have plummeted, all while abortions have increased steadily.

But prenatal care is one service that Planned Parenthood provides very little.

In the 1990s, Planned Parenthood boasted that prenatal care was its "fastest-growing area." Yet by the 2000s, that drastically changed. In a decade, Planned Parenthood provided 200,530 nonspecific prenatal services, and comparatively, committed nearly four million abortions.

And yet Planned Parenthood still tried to emphasize itself as a prenatal care provider; as Live Action News previously reported:

Planned Parenthood’s website makes it clear that only “some” Planned Parenthood facilities actually offer prenatal care. But as recently as 2017, Planned Parenthood’s website misled potential clients by listing “Prenatal” at the top of its web pages under pregnancy services.

In actuality, few were offering prenatal care of any kind, as a Live Action undercover investigation learned. Out of 97 facilities called, only five said they offered any type of service to mothers who wanted to carry their babies to term. Nearly every Planned Parenthood staffer plainly told investigators they did not offer prenatal services at Planned Parenthood.

After the release of Live Action’s investigation, Planned Parenthood purged its websites. Not long after, additional women reached out to various Planned Parenthood facilities, many in their local communities, and confirmed Live Action’s findings. Former Planned Parenthood managers have even stated that in their experience, Planned Parenthood actually had nothing to offer pregnant women besides abortion.

With its Bridges to Prenatal Care program, PPIL is trying to attract Black women.

The question is this: Is PP's goal truly rooted in concern about Black women's health? (After all, this organization has trumpeted the idea that abortion is safer than childbirth — specifically for Black women.)

Planned Parenthood's business model has historically been structured around abortion (it's even fired some past presidents when they attempted to shift focus away from abortion toward actual healthcare).

Is this "bridge" a way for Planned Parenthood to lure in more vulnerable women through the guise of supporting them through their pregnancies, only to then push them toward abortion as the better option?

It's known that Black women are routinely preyed upon, targeted, and mistreated by the abortion industry, and Planned Parenthood is arguably the industry leader. The abortion organization has deep eugenic roots and a history of racism, which continue to affect how it operates today.

The Bottom Line:

It is always a good thing when women are given support and resources to parent their children, rather than abort them. Yet Planned Parenthood may be playing the wolf in sheep's clothing here, and in this instance, should be viewed with skepticism and caution.