Your tax dollars aren’t the only thing supporting Planned Parenthood—proceeds from your daily coffee may be, too.
By now, Starbucks’ grande agenda on social issues isn’t a surprise to anyone, except maybe its CEO. In an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Kevin Johnson seemed completely oblivious to Starbucks’ ongoing relationship with the abortion giant through its matching gift program.
For Johnson, it’s been a rocky few months at the head of one of America’s biggest brands. After an embarrassing scandal in Philadelphia, when a local employee had two African-Americans arrested for sitting in their shop, the damage control was in full swing.
Starbucks announced it was closing its 8,000 stores to have a “racial-bias education day” for its army of employees. But, our friend Alveda King says the company will have to do a lot more than that to end Starbucks’ bigotry.
In an op-ed that’s gone viral, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. insists racism has been part of the company’s corporate identity long before the PR nightmare in April. She writes:
Through its corporate donations, Starbucks contributes one of the most racist organizations in our nation’s history. Planned Parenthood, the largest single provider of abortions in the U.S., performs more than 300,000 terminations each year. Planned Parenthood operates the nation’s largest chain of abortion facilities, and almost 80 percent of its facilities are located in minority neighborhoods. About 13 percent of American women are black, but they have more than 35 percent of the abortions.
Of course, conservatives have known about Starbucks’ ultra-liberal ties dating back to 2012, when then-CEO Howard Schultz told shareholders that redefining marriage really is “core to the Starbucks brand.”
The company went on to sign a string of legal briefs for same-sex marriage, arguing at one point that customers who didn’t like it could take their business elsewhere. Some did.
Others broke their Starbucks habit two years ago when 2nd Vote released a list of more than three dozen companies who’ve been contributing to Planned Parenthood—either directly or through an employee matching gift program. Apart from the more than half-billion-dollar haul from U.S. taxpayers, the group was raking in some hefty financial support from household names like Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss, Microsoft, Nike, Pepsi, Tostitos, and more.
After intense public pressure, at least five of those brands dropped their partnership: AT&T, Coca-Cola, Ford, Macy’s, and Xerox. Starbucks, one of the most politically liberal companies on the market, refused—a fact obviously lost on Johnson. Three times on Tuesday, he denied any knowledge of the program in his interview with Bartiromo.
Bartiromo: “I don’t know if you saw Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece op-ed in the Washington Examiner. And she said, ‘If Starbucks wants to end racism it will stop funding Planned Parenthood.’ Are you going to stop funding Planned Parenthood?”
Johnson: “Well, I am not aware that we, we do fund Planned Parenthood. So. I haven’t read the op-ed and I can’t comment on that.”
Bartiromo: “OK.”
Johnson: “But, I am not aware that we do that.”
Bartiromo: “Well, Alveda King says [so] …
Johnson: “Well, I am not aware of it.”
A few hours later, Starbucks’ corporate office released a statement admitting that there was, in fact, a link. “Starbucks is listed as a donor of an organization because the Starbucks ‘Partner Match’ program provides matched cash awards for contributions made by Starbucks partners (employees). Every fiscal year, funds are available to each partner to request in support of personal financial donations or individual community service efforts.”
Whether Johnson knew or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is what he does with the information now.
Planned Parenthood is an organization under federal investigation by the FBI. If Starbucks wants to continue lining the organization’s pockets after the allegations that it traffics in baby body parts, that’s its choice. But know this: It won’t take long for Starbucks to lose bucks. Lining the pockets of the radical left isn’t good for business. Just ask the NFL, ESPN, Target, Lands’ End, Kellogg’s, J.C. Penney, and others.
If Starbucks cares about racial bias, prove it. “Stop funding Planned Parenthood’s house of horrors,” King insists. “[I]f you’re really serious about eliminating racism, you will acknowledge that black people, and indeed all human beings, are of one blood and one human race—born and unborn. Racism and abortion are crimes against humanity.” Give Johnson and team a helpful push. Call (800) 782-7282, email, or tweet them @Starbucks and ask them to stop sweetening the pot for America’s biggest abortion business.
This was originally published in Tony Perkins’ Washington Update, which is written with the aid of Family Research Council senior writers.
