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May 23, 2007
Dr. Napoleon K. Juanillo, Jr.
Program Director
Leadership and Managerial Excellence in Health Systems
Health Unit, Ateneo Graduate School of Business
20 Rockwell Drive, Makati City 1200
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Dear Dr. Juanillo,
We read with grave concern your announcement of the Population Resource Management fellowships to be financed by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
As a pro-life and pro-family organization committed to protect life at all stages of development and promote family solidarity, we believe the Ateneo, as a Filipino, Catholic and Jesuit university, must study carefully any association with the Packard Foundation for this program, called Leadership Innovations in Population Resource Management.
While respecting the notable contribution of the Packard Foundation in other fields, we have to recognize its being known as a staunch supporter of abortion rights in the United States and elsewhere, as evidenced by its own statements at www.packard.org
“”The long-term goal of the Domestic Reproductive Rights subprogram is to protect and promote the rights of all individuals to make informed decisions about their reproductive lives. This includes access to reproductive health information and reproductive health care services particularly safe and legal abortion…We fund efforts to defeat onerous restrictions to abortion access and to inform policies to uphold comprehensive access; to build an influential and active base of supporters willing to educate policymakers, community leaders and other decision makers about the importance of reproductive health and rights and access to abortion.”
In the United States, the Packard Foundation is recognized as a major funder of abortion clinics (Jennifer Kabbany, “Big Bucks Ban Births,” Insight on the News, May 3, 1999, and Lynn Murphy, “Foundations of Death,” HLI Reports Oct/Nov 1992). Among the beneficiaries of grants from the Packard Foundation are pro-abortion organizations such as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League Foundation (NARAL), now known as NARAL Pro-Choice America, which opposes restrictions to abortion and works to expand access to abortion, and the National Abortion Federation, an organization of abortion practitioners in North America.
We can cite evidence from documents of the Packard Foundation, their beneficiaries and other independent sources. For instance, in www.packard.org under “What We Fund: Grants Database” the Foundation shows that in 2005 and 2006, it provided US$2 million “for general support” to NARAL. According to the January 2004 report, “Foundation-Giving to Promiscuity Education, Contraception and Abortion, 2001” by Life Research Institute, “The largest grant for U.S. use was $7,555,000 by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation to NARAL for continued support of Choice for America Campaign.” This can be accessed at http://www.geocities.com/kekogut/miscellaneous/report.pdf.
For the National Abortion Federation’s funding, the evidence is also ample. Aside from the US$750,000 granted by the Packard Foundation in 2005 “for general support” under the section, “What we Fund: Grants Database” in the Packard Foundation website www.packard.org, the National Abortion Federation’s website www.prochoice.org shows “Commercial Support” for a 2002-2008 Program called “Early Options: A Provider’s Guide to Medical Abortion.”
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is listed publicly as having given these grants:
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Grants Given By the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to Selected Pro-Abortion Organizations, 2001-2005
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Beneficiary/Year
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NARAL
Pro-Choice America
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National Abortion Federation
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Planned Parenthood Federation of America/
of New York City
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Amount
(in US$)
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Amount
(in US$)
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Amount
(in US$)
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2005
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unreported
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Partial: 375,000
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1,000,000
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2004
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1,000,000
150,456
150,000
75,000
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375,000
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2003
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3,000,000
150,456
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375,000
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2002
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3,000,000
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1,000,000
400,000
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2,000,000
1,000,000
800,000
800,000
600,000
300,000
75,000
31,500
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2001
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7,555,000
93,600
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3,000,000
400,000
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Source: Capital Research Center, http://www.capitalresearch.org/ Financial and Grant Information (David and Lucile Packard Foundation), accessed 22 May 2007
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We are concerned that this move to offer a joint program can send the wrong signals since the Ateneo, a Catholic university, has now opted to become one of the organizations receiving funding support for a postgraduate degree in health that openly advocates population control and reproductive health, with all its anti-life connotations.
We sincerely hope you will decline the offer of this grant and cancel the fellowships.
Very truly yours,
Rosie B. Luistro
President
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