No corporate welfare for the merchants of death
The fact that a city councilor is misleading the public about how our money is spent is shameful and disqualifying.
The following is my letter to the city council opposing more corporate welfare for Planned Parenthood. The council votes on June 10. If you want to send your own letter, you can find contact information for the city council on the city website. See Planned Parenthood’s application here.
Councilors,
I am once again writing you in opposition to giving $7,500 to Planned Parenthood. Before I get into that, I wanted to address something from last year's process:
I am deeply disappointed that a member of this City Council went to the Monroe County Council meeting on October 28 and denied that the city funded "gender affirming hormones" a few months earlier. This was clearly part of Planned Parenthood's application. Either that councilor did not know what she was voting for or she was lying about it, and neither is something any elected official should do.
Planned Parenthood is once again asking for tax dollars to pay for "gender affirming hormones," and I am opposed to that funding for the same reasons I opposed it in 2024 and 2025. I realize we have a fundamental disagreement over the concept of "transgenderism," and I do not expect that to change. However, I do not believe it is appropriate to force every taxpayer in Bloomington to pay for "gender affirming hormones" through our property taxes regardless of their personal beliefs on the matter.
According to ProPublica.org, Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky reported $78.6 million of income in its most recent fiscal report. PPGNHAIK, of course, is part of a large multinational corporation that reported 2.14 billion dollars in revenue across all affiliates in its most recent fiscal report. This organization does not need a grant from city government, especially when that money could go to truly local charities that would benefit from the money Planned Parenthood is seeking. There is more than enough money floating around Planned Parenthood to pay for this request, so the purpose of this request is a political endorsement from city government.
This has been an ongoing issue since 1999, and when Planned Parenthood asks for money they do not need you jump to provide it for them out of the taxpayer's pockets. It is time for this to stop. Please do not give yet another grant to this organization.
Planned Parenthood’s annual revenue:
Planned Parenthood’s 2025 funding priorities:
