WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An ongoing boycott of corporations that fund Planned Parenthood has cost the abortion-committing group an estimated $35 million over the past decade, reports Douglas R. Scott, president of Life Decisions International (LDI). The boycott, part of LDI's Corporate Funding Project, was implemented in 1992 in an effort to convince corporations to end their support of Planned Parenthood. To date, more than 111 corporations are known to have stopped funding of the group.

"This boycott has been successful beyond my widest expectations," Scott said. "When we began the boycott 13 years ago, we thought it would be a much more difficult battle than it has turned out to be. This is due to the fact that once corporate leaders are made aware of Planned Parenthood's true agenda and activities and start receiving letters from concerned customers; most of them quickly decide that they want nothing to do with the group."

The Boycott List, an internationally released publication that identifies boycott targets, includes the names, addresses, phone numbers, products, services and subsidiaries of each corporation.

"We do our best to keep corporations that have been funding Planned Parenthood off The Boycott List by contacting them and providing information about Planned Parenthood well before they become boycott targets," Scott said. "Several corporate leaders stopped funding the group without ever going on The Boycott List, which allows their businesses to escape controversy."

Scott said his goal is to end funding of Planned Parenthood and not to "punish" corporations that have done so in the past. "We do not demand reparation; we do not insist that corporate leaders issue a public apology; we do not name corporate supporters of Planned Parenthood without giving their leaders a chance to do the right thing."

LDI tracks cash donations to Planned Parenthood as well as gifts in-kind. It does not track donations made through matching-gift programs. The size of the gift is immaterial to LDI. "Whether it's a million dollars or one penny, Planned Parenthood enjoys the corporate endorsement even more than it does the financial support," Scott said. "They love the corporate 'seal of approval.'"

Once a corporation becomes a boycott target there are two ways for them to be dropped. If a corporation has not funded the abortion advocacy group for more than five years, it qualified to automatically be removed from The Boycott List. If the appropriate corporate leader agrees to make Planned Parenthood ineligible for future support, it is immediately dropped as a boycott target.

Scott said there are two reasons why a corporation would begin funding Planned Parenthood in the first place. "Many corporate leaders support Planned Parenthood out of ignorance," Scott said. "They have no idea what Planned Parenthood really does. They know nothing about Planned Parenthood's worldview. One person in the corporation made the decision to support the group and no one ever questioned it." Other corporations support Planned Parenthood because someone in a position of power fully believes in what the group is doing. "These are the harder cases. These donations are ideologically driven and I believe that some of these corporate leaders would rather go out of business than stop funding Planned Parenthood. And it is our job to convince them otherwise or to help them go out of business, whichever they prefer."

"While we believe the leaders of a corporation should be free to choose what groups it supports, we also believe that those who care about human life have a right to spend their money elsewhere," Scott said. "Regardless of the personal opinions held by the people who work for any corporation, it is simply bad business to alienate millions of people who could be, but choose not to be, customers."

Scott urged all pro-life people to participate in the boycott. "A boycott is a peaceful, accepted way to impact policy. It is easy to do. This is not a sacrifice. At most it is an occasional inconvenience," Scott said. "The Pro-Life Movement will succeed to the extent that pro-life people are willing to be inconvenienced."