To state the obvious it’s been a terrible few weeks for Starbucks. From our single-issue pro-life perspective, Starbucks (to be polite) has failed to meet minimal candor standards with respect to their involvement in propping up the Abortion Industry.
Kudos go out to CNS News’s Craig Bannister and Newsbusters’ Tom Blumer for alerting their audiences (as the headline to Bannister’s story reads) that “Starbucks CEO Thrice Denies Knowing About Company’s Donations to Planned Parenthood.”
In media appearances CEO Kevin Johnson was on the defensive in light of a piece Alveda King, Dr. Martin Luther King’s niece, had written for the Washington Examiner. According to Bannister, “In an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, Johnson was asked about the company’s financial support of Planned Parenthood in light of objects raised by Alveda King. ”
Bartiromo: “I don’t know if you saw Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece op-ed in the Washington Examiner. And she said, ‘If Starbucks wants to end racism it will stop funding Planned Parenthood.’ Are you going to stop funding Planned Parenthood?”
Johnson: “Well I am not aware that we, we do fund Planned Parenthood. So. I haven’t read the op-ed and I can’t comment on that.”
Bartiromo: “OK.”
Johnson: “But, I am not aware that we do that.”
When Bartiromo used different language to ask the same question, Johnson replied
Well, I am not aware of it. What I do — am aware of and do believe is that we want to create a great customer experience for every customer that visits our stores.
Over at Newsbusters, Blumer went over some of the same territory and then wrote, “Starbucks’ support of Planned Parenthood is an established fact”:
(It) matches gifts to Planned Parenthood.
… (It) matches gifts to Susan G. Komen NYC and MN chapters, which fund Planned Parenthood.
The exchange illustrates a much larger truth. Planned Parenthood receives hundreds of millions of federal dollars each year, but of late non-governmental sources have increased markedly. In 2015, private giving amounted to $353.5 million. A year later it had jumped to $445.8 million. In 2017 the figure had risen to $532.7 million.
In a story written for NRL News Today in 2016, Dr. Randall K. O’Bannon, NRLC’s director of education & research outlined the huge revenue streams that come from the likes of The David and Lucille Packard Foundation; George Soros’ Open Society Institute; Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (she is Warren Buffett’s wife), to name just a few. Dr. O’Bannon summarized Planned Parenthood’s bevy of rich donors this way:
According to its most recent annual report, budget figures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, show that Planned Parenthood took in $353.5 million in “private contributions and bequests.” That on top of the $553.7 million PPFA gets from taxpayers, and the $309.2 million it receives from customers in “non-government health services revenue.”
More recently here’s what appeared in National Right to Life’s “The State of Abortion in the United States, January 2018.”
Even as its non-abortion services were plummeting, the $353.5 million in private giving jumped to $445.8 million in 2016. The following year, the figure had risen to $532.7 million. Dr. O’Bannon noted
“This is a clear indication that Planned Parenthood has been able to turn well founded criticism against their reputation and their industry to their own financial advantage. It also illustrates, ironically, that there are non-governmental sources that PPFA can tap into if states chose to prioritize health funding to full service clinics.”
Chelsea Garcia is a political writer with a special interest in international relations and social issues. Events surrounding the war in Ukraine and the war in Israel are a major focus for political journalists. But as a former local reporter, she is also interested in national politics.
Chelsea Garcia studied media, communication and political science in Texas, USA, and learned the journalistic trade during an internship at a daily newspaper. In addition to her political writing, she is pursuing a master's degree in multimedia and writing at Texas.
