CBS' 'Mom' Stars Give $250K Check to Planned Parenthood: It 'Makes Sense' for All-Female Cast
Stars and producers of the CBS show "Mom" have delivered a check of $250,000 — money that would have been used for an Emmy awards campaign — to Planned Parenthood, arguing that it "makes sense" for an all-female cast.
According to The Associated Press, actress Allison Janney and "Mom" co-creator and co-executive producer Gemma Baker personally delivered the check to Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.
They pointed out that they could have used the money for a promo campaign for "Mom" aimed at Emmy judges, but decided otherwise.
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"We don't NOT want to be considered for Emmys," Janney said. "But we decided to use the money instead to support Planned Parenthood."
Baker claimed that the decision "just made sense."
"We have an all-female cast, and it's what our show does: We deal with serious issues. Our characters have dealt with teen pregnancy and breast cancer and sexual assault. This just seemed like a way of standing with an organization that is providing health care to millions of women," she added.
Richards praised Allison, calling her an "iconic star" on a show that is "dealing with the same issues that we deal with in our clinics every day."
"There's a lot of anxiety among women right now, particularly in the heartland of America where they are desperately concerned about losing access to affordable health care," the Planned Parenthood president said.
Janney, who already has two Emmys for her performance, insisted that fans of the show will be supportive of the decision.
"I think for most of the viewers who are hard-core fans of 'Mom,' our support of Planned Parenthood will give them all the more reason to watch," the actress said.
Planned Parenthood released its annual report at the end of May, which showed that abortions increased in 2016, while cancer cancer screenings, STD testing and other health services decreased. The abortion giant also received more federal funding last year than ever before.
Arina Grossu, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council, said in a statement, "Last year, America's largest abortion chain committed 328,348 abortions, over 4,300 more abortions than it committed in 2014-2015. Both its government funding ($554.6 million) and total revenue ($1.354 billion) in 2016 is the highest in its history.
"It also made more than $77 million in profit, $19 million more than the year prior."
Grossu called Planned Parenthood a "sham organization" which is getting more government funding, making higher profits, and carrying out more abortions.
SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser added in a separate statement that women are turning away from the controversial organization.
"Over the past five years, despite increased taxpayer funding, their client load has dropped by 600,000, cancer screenings are down nearly 50 percent and contraceptive services are down nearly 20 percent," she stated.
