by Jill Stanek
Planned Parenthood Chicago Area recently announced it closed its Naperville PP Express due to the opening of its nearby mega-abortion mill in Aurora.
And IL Family Institute linked to a January 1 State Journal-Register article reporting the PP family planning clinic in Logan, IL, has closed due to "flat" government funding of many years.
Citizen reported yesterday PP also "recently closed four sites in Michigan and merged several in Ohio."
Shortage of funding is a ruse, since PP is almost a $1 billion annual operation with $400 MILLION sitting in the bank, according to Life Decisions International.
PP has also increased its market share of abortions from 5% to 20% over the last decade, reported of IL Right to Life, incidentally made easier by the fact it gets government funding so it can undercut the competition.
I have previously reported it appears PP launched a new marketing plan in the early 2000's to increase its share even more. Part of that plan is obviously to create new regional box stores, such as Aurora (22k sq ft) and Denver (50k sq ft). Graphic design of the latter mill below (sans security fence) is courtesy of PP Rocky Mountains:

This all leads to some great questions posed by reader Eileen in an email, which I'll paraphrase.
Why is PP merging and building bigger regional box mills? If they complain about the shortage of abortion clinics around the country, and that close access is imperative to garnering abortions, what is the benefit to women by merging and building bigger? Wouldn't they want to market smaller stores in more places?
Comments:
I heard that PP was doing this because there are fewer and fewer abortion doctors. This way those few abortion doctors can see lots of patients, instead of lots of abortion doctors seeing a few patients. Assembly line processing ... it is about the money.
Posted by: Brian at February 8, 2008 12:39 PMBrian,
That makes total sense. It appears they studied the concept of the concentration camps used during the holocaust and used that for their business model.
Brian,
Not a bad place for those abortion doctors to live either. The Denver area is a huge ski-vacation destination for college kids. "Spring break" could take on a whole new meaning with the monster Planned Parenthood there. Sarasota, Florida (close to many popular spring break destinations) is ALSO going to be the home of one of these mega-clinics. I bet they are planning on big numbers for morning-after-pill sales. Pathetic.
Posted by: Janet at February 8, 2008 1:25 PMGreat question, Jill.
Perhaps PP is building the fancy new buildings in BIG cities for the "big whigs". There will be more room for large corner offices (to house ALL those managers coming from smaller clinics that have closed). This HUGE building would also be perfect for hosting fancy fundraising parties. It is such a coincidence that the Planned Parenthood Denver is scheduled to open in August 2008, just in time for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Why would they want a 2000 square foot facility when they have the money to build a fortress?
No, on second thought, that can't be. PP is all about helping women.
Posted by: Janet at February 8, 2008 1:29 PMBefore you get too excited about the Naperville PP Express closing (a facility which peformed NO abortions), it was planned long before due to the overlap with the newer Aurora facility. No shrinking of PP there.
And in regards to the newer, larger facilities PP is building, consider that they are necessary to comply with various regulations being pushed by your side that require such absurdities as hospital-sized rooms, doors and corridors. Yes, antis, the larger buildings are partially your doing. And then you go out and protest...that's gratitude!
Posted by: Ray at February 8, 2008 1:53 PMEileen's question makes no sense, as it assumes that PP's goal is to benefit women. ( Or at least, what they claim will benefit women, antway.)
It's all about cutting overhead and maintaining a branded look, IMO.
Posted by: Milehimama at February 8, 2008 1:57 PMRay (1:53)
No excitement here. Jill predicted the closing of PP Express several months ago. I don't think anyone said PP is shrinking. They're CONSOLIDATING.
Posted by: Janet at February 8, 2008 2:11 PMRay -
"hospital-sized rooms, doors and corridors"
If you are talking about Planned Parenthood fighting being considered a Ambulatory Care Center in some states, your barking up the wrong tree.
The doors and corridors would need to be expanded in order for the buildings to comply with the STATES FIRE CODES.
We are so evil, aren't we. We manipulated the state fire codes back in the '70's knowing full well that Planned Parenthood would have problems with it at the beginning of the 21st century. Yup - you caught us!
It is amazing all the griping and complaining about abortion being treated as a sugery when PP reports it as being the "most common surgery in America". Is it a surgery? Or is it not a surgery? If it is not a surgery then they wouldn't need to be up to code for the states regualtions of a clinic performing surgery. Or is it not a surgery, which would not require that.
You can't have it both ways.
Oh, and goodness knows that we wouldn't want the patients to have an ounce of privacy, right? Imagine how horrible we are thinking women would want to be treated like humans and not like dogs in a kennel.
Posted by: valerie at February 8, 2008 2:12 PMlol Valerie :D
Posted by: Bethany at February 8, 2008 3:02 PMValerie,
Awesome post!!!
There's something unsettling about the term "express." It makes PP look like fast food. Does that mean minimum wage laborers are cutting corners to make profits? That, or an assembly line.
Posted by: prettyinpink at February 8, 2008 3:41 PMExpress. You pop in and pop out for pills to pop. Oh, and condoms. Don't forget the condoms.
Posted by: Carla at February 8, 2008 4:19 PMGood grief! You complain in one thread about clinic conditions and then complain about fancy new clinics. You just won't be happy until women are forced into back alleys will you.
Posted by: Sally at February 8, 2008 9:38 PMSally -
You are missing the point. They contradict themselves. They feign poverty when they have millions in net assets. They complain that women do not have convient access to abortion but then they close down their small clinics to open a larger clinic, which means more traveling for these women. Plus, they are spending money this year for advertising to get a democrat elected for president. This is the first year in the history of PP that they will do this. They are not poor, they just don't want to spend the money they are making to help the poor. They are spending the money on campaigns, new buildings, lawyers for those new buildings etc.
What happened to helping the people who need it? all they are doing is helping themselves and making women's health care less accessible to the women in smaller town with no access to travel to the bigger towns.
Posted by: valerie at February 8, 2008 10:04 PMPlanned Parenthood is doing to small abortion clinics what the big box book stores did to small independant book shops: Making it unable for them to compete. The same thing that Home Depot and Lowes did to lumber yards and hardware stores.
There's really no difference at all...it's just Big Box Killing...based on nothing but Corporate Greed.
Posted by: Mike at February 9, 2008 12:13 AMI don't know that everyone is getting the depth of Eileen's questions.
Is PP going to become more monstrous than it is now? Is it going to become a concentration camp, not just for unborn children, but for the blind, deaf, and dying people who are already born?
If we can't protect the dignity and right-to-life of humans in the womb how can we possibly protect someone who does not have to be ripped out of someone else's body in order to be killed?
M (8:14 AM),
"I don't know that everyone is getting the depth of Eileen's questions... Is PP going to become more monstrous than it is now? Is it going to become a concentration camp, not just for unborn children, but for the blind, deaf, and dying people who are already born?"
I'd rather not bring it up and give them any ideas...But, yes, I agree that these large abortion facilities could very well become the concentration camps of the new millennium. There is an underlying EVIL, that as a society, we must not ignore. These are Godless people who are slowly and quietly finding supporters around the world.
We've ignored abortion in the U.S. for 35 years. We have a man who wants to be president who thinks we should "get over it already" (Mr.Rudy Giuliani - referring to abortion).
We need to pray for the conversion of hearts, and pray for the world, that GOOD PEOPLE WILL STAND UP FOR LIFE everywhere.
Planned Parenthood has a plan for the world, and if we are not vigilant, they will be in every corner of our lives.
Brian: "I heard that PP was doing this because there are fewer and fewer abortion doctors. This way those few abortion doctors can see lots of patients, instead of lots of abortion doctors seeing a few patients. Assembly line processing ... it is about the money."
I agree with everything besides the last bit. It's not about the money. They HAVE money. (although the business of being born is trillionbillion dollar industry and noone seems to notice that)
I think what they are trying to do is make bigger more solid facilities that will be harder to get rid of in the long run. Maybe when these have been up and running for a few years they will reopen the smaller places to allow for basic needs to be filled and organise transport to the larger facilities if the need arises.
Erin -
"I think what they are trying to do is make bigger more solid facilities that will be harder to get rid of in the long run. Maybe when these have been up and running for a few years they will reopen the smaller places to allow for basic needs to be filled and organise transport to the larger facilities if the need arises. "
Actually they are signing their own death certificate (pun intended). PP is betting on women being stupid. They have many women believing they are the only places a woman can go for low cost reproductive care (I hear it here all the time). However, they aren't. Without the little PP clinics the health departments are going to go back to advertising (as they have in some counties in Indiana where PP has left). and guess what? Many county health departments have always provided transportation to their clinics. It's called the bus, and you can get reimbursed at the clinics for the total cost of the bus to and from the clinic if you qualify for Title X low income sliding scale. PP has never done that and they won't especially when women have to take the bus through several counties.
All that being said, I'm wondering when PP is going to start trashing the Health Department Clincs so women won't go to them.
They will never be able to organize transportation to their other facilities because that would really make them look like hypocrites. The whole argument for 35 years has been the lack of transportation and how they cannot provide it to everyone that needs it. They have been screaming at the top of their lungs that abortion needs to be made available and convenient to everyone and that they cannot provide transportation to take the burden off these women. They will never shift geers on that one, make them look really bad and open them up to tremendous law suits from the women who had to have late term abortions because they couldn't get to an abortion clinic and PP wouldn't help transport them. I just don't see it happening.
This is One of the reasons that I haven't really been too upset about the larger clinics....Their reputation is going to go down hill from here. Low Income women in small counties will not be able to get to them. Doesn't really make them look like they are really here to help women in need does it? They can just keep closing down their small clinics under the lie of no money. Women aren't as stupid as they are hoping we are. We will see the millions of dollars spent in building those places - millions they could have put into the so called "too broke to stay open" clinics.
Posted by: valerie at February 10, 2008 9:03 AMErin,
"I think what they are trying to do is make bigger more solid facilities that will be harder to get rid of in the long run."
What do you mean?
Posted by: Janet at February 10, 2008 9:12 AMValerie, 9:03 AM,
"All that being said, I'm wondering when PP is going to start trashing the Health Department Clincs so women won't go to them."
Excellent point.
"Actually they are signing their own death certificate (pun intended). PP is betting on women being stupid."
They underestimate us!
Let's suppose PP DOES continue to lose money and support. Having these huge buildings to sell off at some point in the future makes a lot more sense for them than trying to get rid of hundreds of tiny clinics. PP can make millions on the sale of the mega-clinics (perhaps to the Federal Government?) who will take over the running of the facilities. The PP top brass can all retire to a deserted island with their big bank accounts in tow. Perfect!
Posted by: Janet at February 10, 2008 9:31 AM
