So close and yet so far - A CALL TO ACTION
I keep getting the feeling that our leaders in Washington just do not fully appreciate what it is all about. Even before the vote last night, i was told by various sources that we would not get de-funding of Planned Parenthood BUT that our efforts had made progress and that we could look for it in the 2012 Budget. I was told that the Democrats would not give in on this issue, that Obama would veto the continuing resolution, that this was the best we could get.
So I ask .... really?
Since when....? Why is it that the pro-life side is the one that ALWAYS has to compromise?
After all, when we compromise, babies continue to die.
Had the House leadership held firm, what would have happened? How bad would a government "slow down" have been? How long would it have lasted? And who would be responsible?
It is after all the Senate that refused to consider a budget or the continuing resolutions. It is the Democrats who never provided the Congress with a budget in the fall when they controlled BOTH houses and the presidency.
No, I am sorry but caving in is what Stupak and his cronies did. Remember how we reacted then? Maybe we in the pro-life movement should give an award for the pro-life congressman who caves in the most ...or the quickest ....or who strings us along the longest.... Or who tells us .....
Still I will not be moved to quit this battle. In fact, "I have not yet begun to fight," to quote the famous U.S. Naval Captain, John Paul Jones.
But it is another famous speech that I also recall. So I will end by quoting from the famous
speech given by Winston Churchill in those dark days of 1940 when Britain seemed all alone. Fellow activists: this must be our mantra. We can never yield. We can never quit. We can never give up. We must prevail.
"I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.
At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.
The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.
Fellow activists: as I said, this must be our mantra. We can never yield. We can never quit. We can never give up. We must prevail.
We must continue to publicize Planned Parenthood's assault on women and children. No legitimate business should have anything to do with Planned Parenthood. We must publicize those politicians who refuse to take the American people seriously when it comes to funding the horror of abortion. Any politician who supports Planned Parenthood must be defeated. And we must demand that those who CLAIM to be our friends start acting that way.
I am tired of being told to sit in the back of the bus and be patient. I am tired of being told to accept the crumbs from the table. This is not a game. Human lives are at stake. They demand our complete loyalty and our best efforts.
Keep up the pressure to de-fund Planned Parenthood
Don't stop calling Congress and telling them to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Call Speaker Boehner and tell him to hang tough. Call Harry Reid and ask him why he would shut down government over Planned Parenthood.
The following comes from
Live Action and
SBA List.
1. President Obama and Senate Democrats are willing to shut down the federal government to ensure tax dollars keep flowing to one of their biggest political allies. During his run for president, Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Obama, marking only the second time in their history that they endorsed in a presidential election.[i] They poured money into his campaign and churned out volunteers. Imagine the reaction if a Republican president was willing to shutdown the government in order to prevent a single organization from sharing one penny in the belt-tightening all Americans are facing.
2. Planned Parenthood is an independently wealthy entity. According to its latest annual report, it has nearly one billion dollars in net assets.[ii] Data shows that over the last nine years, Planned Parenthood has taken in over $500 million in profits.[iii]
3. Planned Parenthood is America’s largest abortion provider. One out of every four abortions in the U.S. is performed in a Planned Parenthood facility. Data shows that since 1970, Planned Parenthood has performed at least 5.3 million abortions. In 2009 alone, Planned Parenthood performed a record 332,278 abortions.[iv]
4. Planned Parenthood’s business model is centered on abortion. Former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson has written that she was given an “abortion quota” and was even told by her superiors to double the number of abortions in order to bring in more revenue.[v] Abortion patients constitute 12 percent of Planned Parenthood clients — 332,000 of 3 million unduplicated clients in its most current report. 37 percent of all Planned Parenthood clinic income revenue is from abortion procedures, according to conservative estimates. Planned Parenthood has issued a directive instructing that all affiliates must have at least one clinic that performs abortion by 2013.[vi]
5. More taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood equals more abortions, fewer adoption referrals. Claims that taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood results in fewer abortions are false. From 2000 to 2009, Planned Parenthood saw an 80 percent increase in taxpayer funding, receiving $202 million in 2000 and $363 million in 2009. In 2000, Planned Parenthood performed 197,070 abortions while making 2,486 adoption referrals. In 2009, they performed 332,278 abortions and made just 977 adoption referrals. That means an 80 percent increase in taxpayer funding resulted in a 69 percent increase in the number of abortions and a 61 percent decrease in the number of adoption referrals.[vii]
6. Planned Parenthood is not safe for women and young girls. Recent undercover footage released by Lila Rose’s Live Action shows Planned Parenthood employees in several states willing to aid and abet in acknowledged human sex trafficking of girls as young as 14.[viii] The undercover footage resulted in the firing of Amy Woodruff, manager of the Central New Jersey Planned Parenthood clinic.[ix] It also caused Planned Parenthood to call for mandatory training sessions of thousands of its employees across the country on reporting requirements.[x
7. Planned Parenthood opposes commonsense measures to protect women and underage girls. Presently, Planned Parenthood is fighting a bill in Illinois that would require its staff and volunteers to be mandatory reporters when they suspect the sexual abuse of minors. They’ve also consistently fought parental notification laws – all the way to the Supreme Court – which would simply inform a parent if their underage daughter is seeking an abortion. They’ve opposed state efforts to impose health and safety regulations for abortion facilities.[xi]
8. Women have other options for seeking primary care, contraception, STI testing, and cancer screening. According to the Chiaroscuro Foundation, in addition to the tens of thousands of U.S. doctors and hospitals providing this care, there were 1,048 federally qualified health centers in the U.S. which provide women cancer screening, contraception, and STI testing.[xii]
9. Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms and is not a significant primary care provider to women. Despite claims made by Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards and members of the media, Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms. They are also not a significant primary care provider in general. In recent reports, Planned Parenthood acknowledges that it provided primary care only to about 19,700 of its 3 million unduplicated clients. These services have been trending downward for years, from 21,247 in 2007 to 20,235 in 2008, to today’s 19,796.[xiii]
10. Polling shows Americans don’t believe efforts to defund Planned Parenthood are extreme. A March 2011 poll conducted by The Hill, before Planned Parenthood became a critical issue in the budget debate, showed that Americans are virtually split in half over whether Planned Parenthood’s funding should be left alone or completely cut. Forty-six percent said it should be left alone; 42 percent said it should be completely cut. The poll has a 3 percent margin of error.[xiv] When asked specifically about taxpayer funding of abortion, polls consistently show a healthy majority of Americans, 60 to 70 percent, oppose their tax dollars funding abortion.[xv]
11. Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, was a strong believer in eugenics. Following is just a sampling of her documented beliefs. “In this matter, the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be held up for emulation…”[xvi] Referring to immigrants and Catholics, she wrote: “[They’re] an unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all.”[xvii] She also wrote, “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”[xviii] Planned Parenthood is carrying on her legacy today, centering itself on population control efforts. In a recently filed tax return, Planned Parenthood stated as part of their mission statement that they are committed to “a U.S. population of stable size in an optimum environment.”[xix]
12. Planned Parenthood has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of employee time in order to protect its government handout. Planned Parenthood has flooded the airwaves with TV commercials[xx] and radio ads[xxi] in order to protect its funding. Its employees – whose paychecks are subsidized by tax dollars — have participated in bus tours and rallies across the country.[xxii]
[i] Planned Parenthood Press Release, “Planned Parenthood Action Fund Endorses Barack Obama,” July 7, 2008
[ii] Chiaroscuro Foundation Report, “Does Planned Parenthood Need or Deserve Federal Funds?,” March, 2011
[iii] Life Issues Institute, “Planned Parenthood Fact Page”, 2011
[iv] Chiaroscuro Foundation Report, “Does Planned Parenthood Need or Deserve Federal Funds?,” March, 2011
[v] Abby Johnson Op-Ed in The Hill, “Exposing the Planned Parenthood business model,” April 4, 2011
[vi] Chiaroscuro Foundation Report, “Does Planned Parenthood Need or Deserve Federal Funds?,” March, 2011
[vii] SBA List Press Release, “Fact Check: Clinton Misleads on Planned Parenthood Funding,” April 6, 2011
[viii] Live Action Press Release, “Caught on Tape: Planned Parenthood Aids Pimp’s Underage Sex Ring,” February 1, 2011
[ix] New Jersey Star Ledger, “Central Jersey Planned Parenthood fires worker after release of undercover video,” February 2, 2011.
[x] New York Times, “Planned Parenthood to Retrain Public Staff,” February 7, 2011
[xi] Dr. Helen Alvare op-ed in the Weekly Standard, “Note to Congress: Planned Parenthood is Not a ‘Women’s Health’ Organization,” April 6, 2011
[xii] Chiaroscuro Foundation Report, “Does Planned Parenthood Need or Deserve Federal Funds?,” March, 2011
[xiii] Ibid.
[xiv] The Hill, “The Hill Poll: Planned Parenthood cut splits voters by gender, race,” March 28, 2011
[xv] CNN: “Poll: Majority favor abortion funding ban,” November 18, 2009
[xvi] Birth Control Review, “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda.” October 1921, page 5.
[xvii] Margaret Sanger, “Pilot of Civilization,” p. 187
[xviii] Margaret Sanger, “Women and the New Race,” 1920
[xix] Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., 2008 Income Tax Return
[xx] YouTube, “Planned Parenthood Action Fund TV Ad: Carolyn Telling Her Story,” February 25, 2011
[xxi] NPR, “Planned Parenthood Radio Ads To Target Congressional Opponents,” February 18, 2011
[xxii] Planned Parenthood, “Planned Parenthood Truth Tour Cities & Events,” March 29, 2011
