Desires to Be the "LensCrafters of Family Planning": Planned Parenthood: Going after Wealthier Suburbanites.

Regular readers of NRL News have noted our extensive coverage of the latest trend at Planned Parenthood--establishing abortion megaclinics all across the country. Now a reporter has picked up on the story and in her investigation has uncovered new important details about Planned Parenthood's business and political plans.

Writing in the June 23 Wall Street Journal, Stephanie Simon reports that "Flush with cash, Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide are aggressively expanding their reach, seeking to woo more affluent patients with a network of suburban clinics and huge new health centers that project a decidedly upscale image." In addition, the gigantic new centers are making room for old-fashioned politicking.

Planned Parenthood has undergone some major corporate restructuring in the last several years, closing unprofitable clinics, merging affiliates, and building megaclinics capable of performing hundreds of abortions a week. Statistics show Planned Parenthood clinics are now responsible for about 24% of all abortions performed in the U.S., setting record numbers (289,750 in 2005) while abortion has declined across the nation.

Megaclinics have been or are being built by Planned Parenthood affiliates all over the United States. Simon mentions the mega-clinic that recently opened in Aurora, Illinois, along with a new one in Houston that is supposed to be Planned Parenthood's largest, at 75,000 square feet. These new megaclinics, Simon writes, "feature touches like muted lighting, hardwood floors and airy waiting rooms in colors selected by marketing experts." (Older clinics are also being updated and remodeled to look, as one client put it to Simon, "a lot cleaner and safer.")

In addition to the megaclinics, Simon notes that Planned Parenthood has opened "more than two dozen quick service 'express centers,' many in suburban shopping malls." These clinics offer "walk-in convenience" and "clothes-on care," including birth control, pregnancy tests, and tests for sexually transmitted infections. Simon writes, "Most patients are in and out in less than half an hour."

Touring an express ...