Since posting about Free Cone Day, I have heard from a few of you who raised concerns regarding whether or not Ben & Jerry’s supports Planned Parenthood. While I knew that Ben Cohen, former CEO of Ben & Jerry’s espoused… er, liberal political views to put it mildly, I was not aware of any direct connection between Ben & Jerry’s (no longer owned by Cohen) and Planned Parenthood.
So I did some digging around. First of all, I found out that, if we want to remain 100% pro-life in all of our purchases, we have a lot of homework ahead of us. The insidious reach of Planned Parenthood and its abortion promoting propaganda is unbelievably long.
Also, I found Ben & Jerry’s official public statement on the topic of funding Planned Parenthood. Yes, they “applaud” PP’s programs and yes, as with other donations to non-profit organizations, they will match employee donations to PP, and yes they do support an individual franchise’s right to donate directly to local PP organizations. But no, they do not write out checks to PP International and they do not take an official stand on the issue of abortion.
Did any of that make you lose your appetite? If not, I can assure you of this much: Eating Ben & Jerry’s ice cream today and giving them no money in return will not lend financial support of any kind to Planned Parenthood.