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Planned Parenthood Under
"Siege"? Part Two of Four By Dave Andrusko There is something both exquisitely ironic and deeply preposterous about the emerging pro-abortion mantra that Planned Parenthood--the recipient of an endless river of state and federal money and grants--is somehow now "under siege," as the New York Times' Gail Collins put it last Friday. Collins is referring primarily to a proposal by Congressman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) to cut off Title X family planning money to Planned Parenthood and the wave of negative publicity engendered by videos covertly taken by Life Action beginning with indefensible behavior on the part of employees at PPFA affiliates in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and Richmond, Virginia. If under "siege," PPFA has had decades to acquire an army of armaments and allies. Consider what we learned from PPFA's 2008-09 report. The nation's largest abortion provider received $363.2 million in government grants and contracts during the year. While PPFA's Annual Report does not break out what portion of that $363.2 million came from the FEDERAL government, the attached chart does show the correlation between increased government funding to PPFA and increased abortions conducted by PPFA. Two quick points. First, Pence is not asking that Title X funding be reduced by a dime. He's making the commonsensical point that federal dollars oughtn't to be going to PPFA whose affiliates performed more than 324,000 abortions in 2008--an increase of 6% over the year before. Second, operating on the axiom that the best defense is a good offense, PPFA and its legion of defenders are eager to talk about everything but what pro-lifers posing as a pimp and a prostitute reported they found when they went to abortion clinics in New Jersey and Virginia. First we heard the footage was not complete; the entire videos were posted on YouTube. Then we were told that the initial encounter in New Jersey was essentially unique, demonstrated by the firing of the clinic manager. That rationale fell quickly when representatives from Live Action visited other PPFA clinics in Virginia. A second wave of videos reportedly showed the conduct of PPFA staff at three clinics-- in Falls Church, Roanoke, and Charlottesville, Virginia. Using Falls Church (which is just south of Washington, DC) as an example, Live Action summarizes what it this way: "Abortions for underage girls from other countries only require a photo ID. Planned Parenthood staffer: 'We don't necessarily look at the legal status, like I said. Abortion appointments do require photo ID. It's nothing as far as records. It's just photo ID that's ever going to be required.'" According to FoxNews.com, Rep. Chris Smith applauded the New Jersey attorney general for subsequently ordering a review of the Perth Amboy incident. "This seems to be yet another reason to believe that Planned Parenthood is more interested in promoting its abortion business than it is in obeying laws that protect minors from sexual exploitation," Smith said in an e-mail to FoxNews.com. Congressman Smith is also advancing the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which would establish a permanent, government-wide ban on federal subsidies for abortion, with narrow exceptions. The bill would supersede a patchwork of different laws limiting federal subsidies for abortion, many of which must be renewed each year because they are incorporated into annual appropriations bills. |