Planned Parenthood may not turn 100 until Sunday, but some of America’s companies have already given them quite a gift. Knee-deep in scandals ranging from selling baby body parts to systematically violating patients’ privacy rights, at least 37 corporations have no trouble funneling big bucks to the country’s richest abortion business. Despite all of the bad publicity, even worse ethics and possible illegal activity, Planned Parenthood continues to cash in on the lie that it offers some of America’s best women’s health care.

Our friends at 2nd Vote did some digging and found more than three dozen of the nation’s most familiar brands are directly contributing to the abortion giant — and using consumer dollars to do it. Apart from the more than one half-billion dollar haul from U.S. taxpayers, Cecile Richards’s group is enjoying hefty financial support from Adobe, American Express, Avon, Bank of America, Bath & Body Works, Ben & Jerry’s, Boeing, Clorox, Converse, Deutsche Bank, Dockers, Energizer, Expedia, ExxonMobil, Fannie Mae, Groupon, Intuit, Johnson & Johnson, La Senza, Levi Strauss, Liberty Mutual, Macy’s, March of Dimes, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Nike, Oracle, Pepsi, Pfizer, Progressive Insurance, Starbucks, Susan G. Komen, Tostitos, Unilever, Verizon, and Wells Fargo. In other words, a portion of the dollars that shoppers give these companies and non-profits, like United Way, is being wired to the bank of the largest provider of abortion in America.

And it’s not like the organization needs the money! With the government’s lucrative backing and the revenue pouring in from the group’s biggest moneymaker — abortion — Planned Parenthood is hardly hurting. And while we are 100 percent supportive of corporations making their own decisions and setting their own policies, we believe that consumers have choices too — like taking their business elsewhere. That’s the beauty of the free market. If CEOs want to enter the culture wars, that’s their prerogative. But they shouldn’t be surprised when the market fires back — as it has with Target, Lands’ End, J.C. Penney, and others who’ve taken socially extreme positions.

Unfortunately for Americans, these companies aren’t the only ones buying into Planned Parenthood’s deadly business model. While Richards’s group is under congressional investigation, almost 20 senators moved to pass a resolution praising Planned Parenthood and eugenics-advocating founder Margaret Sanger for a century’s worth of work. “From Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, this country is healthier because of Planned Parenthood,” Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a press release. That’s cruel irony, considering that Planned Parenthood’s birthday is one of the reasons that 58.5 million children haven’t celebrated theirs.

And while Richards and others do what they can to dehumanize what they do, the science is unmistakable. Just this week, scientists in Britain announced a major breakthrough in the stages of human development. According to this research team, a baby’s heartbeat is just 16 days after conception — not 21 days, as originally thought. The results, which were published in the scientific journal eLife, are thought to be groundbreaking for treating heart conditions in unborn children. “By finding out how the heart first starts to beat and how problems can arise in heart development, we are one step closer to being able to prevent heart conditions from arising during pregnancy.”

Sadly, the biggest threat to most pregnancies isn’t a heart condition — but Planned Parenthood. Like the rest of the abortion industry, it ignores everything but its bottom line in promoting one of the barbaric practices in human history. If that bothers you, then so should these companies’ investment. How much more will you give to Planned Parenthood by doing business with its corporate partners? Some of these companies may be in the process of severing those relationships. If so, you can give them a helpful push. Send them a note and ask them to discontinue their donations to an organization under criminal investigation. Next time United Way asks for a donation, tell them “No way!” Also, share the list on social media and ask your friends to contact them too!

Originally published here.

Leaking Hostility

The last thing the Clinton Campaign wanted the public to know is how disgusted they are by people of faith. Clearly, that is one of their “private” positions that was never supposed to be public. The emails exposed by WikiLeaks earlier this week show more than revulsion for people who love Christ — they show a hostility that is shared with multiple corners in the political Left.

Why? Because Orthodox Christianity is an obstacle to their statism. In an email exchange between Clinton’s communication director Jennifer Palmieri and John Halpin at the Center for American Progress, she wrote dismissively of News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson’s Catholic faith by slamming evangelicals. “Their rich friends wouldn’t understand if they became evangelicals,” she added. Halpin replied, “Excellent point. They can throw around ‘Thomistic’ thought and ‘subsidiarity’ and sound sophisticated because no one knows what the hell they’re talking about.” It is telling that the duo derided the fundamental teaching of subsidiarity, a principle that central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at the local level. These and other beliefs throw wrenches in the works of the statist trying to build his utopia. If biblical Christianity cannot be eliminated, then it must be mocked and marginalized. If it can’t be sufficiently marginalized, it must be corrupted, as Bill Donohue of the Catholic League pointed out on our radio program [Wednesday].

Of the many blockbusters revealed in the emails is the admission that the Clinton campaign created fake “Catholic” organizations to fight the church on abortion and man-woman marriage. All funded by the Christian-hating money man, George Soros. This is more dangerous than just religious bigotry, it’s a coordinated effort to disenfranchise a huge swath of Americans.

Originally published here.

The Craziest Thing in the World

Nancy Pelosi infamously said about Obamacare in 2009, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Seven years later, the results are in, and one month from this 2016 election, even Democrats are now admitting that the so-called Affordable Care Act is simply unaffordable for millions of Americans. None other than Bill Clinton himself recently admitted on the campaign trail that “the people … out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half… It’s the craziest thing in the world.”

As they experience massive losses on the imploding Obamacare exchanges, health insurers are rapidly abandoning the market. Next year, health insurance companies are expected to make massive increases to their monthly premiums, with an over 11% average price increase in the states reporting data so far, already doubling last year’s premium increases. Some states are reporting over 60-70% price increases for health insurance plans. As a result, “the craziest thing in the world” is that many hardworking Americans this year could lose their current health insurance, have fewer plans to choose from, and end up paying double digit increases on their monthly premiums on top of that.

The skyrocketing prices accompany a sharp decrease in choice among plans. Nearly one third of U.S. counties in 2017 will have only one Obamacare plan, with some sub-regions within counties having have no plans available at all. Fifty-five percent of Americans also could have access to two or fewer insurers on the government-run health care exchanges. Seven states, moreover, are predicted to have just one insurer state-wide in 2017: Alaska, Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming. The declining competition and enrollment will only lead to higher premiums in future years.

In December 2015, the Republicans in the House and Senate successfully passed legislation to repeal major parts of Obamacare and to defund Planned Parenthood using a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation bill that only required a simple majority in the Senate. While President Obama vetoed that bill, depending on the outcome of this election Congress could once again pass and the next president could sign reconciliation legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood. Repealing the vast majority of Obamacare will not only help replace this law with patient-centered free market affordable solutions, it will remove the conscience threatening mandates, abortion subsidies, and the prospect of government-rationed health care. This election, the stakes are high to fix our failing health care system that is bankrupting our nation and jeopardizing the healthcare of millions of Americans.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.