CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Study claiming abortion is safe was funded by those who profit from it, and the media fails to investigate

A report claiming abortion is safe, published in March of 2018 by the National Academies of Science (NASEM), was funded by abortion collaborators and organizations behind abortion expansion efforts. NASEM’s report, “The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States,” was financed in part by foundations with possible profit motives (a huge conflict of interest), namely Warren Buffett and the Packard Foundation, which seeded the start-up of the abortion pill manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, LLC.

According to the NASEM website, the “Consensus Study Report,” was sponsored by:

• The JPB Foundation
• The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation
• Tara Health Foundation
• The Grove Foundation

These organizations are deeply entrenched in abortion.

Packard Foundation

• Previous website made clear its goal is “expanding access to safe abortion.” 
• Current website says it exists to “ensure that women receive quality abortion care by supporting advocacy in targeted states and addressing the clinic and provider shortage.” 
• Is a substantial donor to Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, and NARAL, and an original investor in the abortion pill manufacturer, DANCO.
• Stepped in with “$14.2 million in program related investments” to keep Danco afloat in 1996, when DANCO, “ran short on funds” and had “difficulty attracting investors.”
• Seeded DANCO with millions of dollars as it transitioned from the Population Council to DANCO Laboratories, LLC.
• Funds Gynuity Health Projects. 
• Is funding abortion pill studies.

Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation

• Was established by Warren Buffett, according to Inside Philanthropy, and was “originally named the Buffett Foundation, in the 1960s. It was renamed the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation in honor of his wife after her death in 2004.”
• Buffett is an original investor in DANCO.
• Has a Director of the US Program, Tracy Weitz, who “worked for Planned Parenthood early in her career… worked squarely on abortion… for many years at the University of California in San Francisco, where she’s been affiliated since 2002.” Weitz also…
  • Has previous experience as a member of the Society of Family Planning (SFP) (whose mission supports research on abortion), Director at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), (which publishes workbooks on abortion training), and is part of UCSF’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health.
  • Was a former manager of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate.
  • Co-founded ANSIRH. Her bio states, “When Dr. Felicia Stewart joined the Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy at UCSF (which eventually became known as the Bixby Center) as a co-director, she recruited Dr. Weitz to join her and these two inspirational women co-founded ANSIRH in 2002.”
  • Focused her research, according to her UCSF (Bixby) bio, on “strategies to expand abortion provision in the U.S.” and  “a national strategic plan to secure access to later abortion care.”

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.

Tara Health Foundation

• Has been planning to expand abortion through philanthropic measures for some time, as is outlined in a strategy supported by THF, commissioned by Reproductive Health Investors Alliance Steering Committee, and published on THF’s website. It includes a push for “home use” abortion, elimination of FDA’s safety requirements known as REMS, and lists Packard as a steering committee member.
• Pledged to fund abortion pills on college campuses in California.
• Props up abortion facilities like Whole Woman’s Health (WWH) with loans.

The JPB Foundation

• Has contributed millions (according to 990 tax records filed online) to Planned Parenthood, making it one of the largest donors to the abortion corporation.
• Has been credited with funding projects for The Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. Live Action News has previously reported that the Bixby Center trains abortion providers though its Ryan Residency Training Program.

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 Turnaway Study.

A number of “experts,” some identified previously by Live Action News for abortion connections and conflicts, were thanked in the report for being “essential sources of information.” Those people include Mitchell Creinin, Ann Davis, Diana Greene Foster, Marji Gold, Uta Landy, Ushma Upadhyay, and Beverly Winikoff. In addition, the study was reviewed by separate “experts,” including Dr. Daniel Grossman and Willie Parker, both abortionists with deep ties to the abortion industry.

Live Action News will continue to document the collaborators pushing to expand abortion — and specifically, the abortion pill. This study is yet another example of the way the media is failing to expose major conflicts of interest in abortion studies.

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