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NRL News
Planned
Parenthood to Open Upscale Express Clinic in Minnesota Planned Parenthood (PP) has announced plans to open an express spa-like clinic in a strip mall in Woodbury, Minnesota, an upscale suburb of St. Paul. Although organizers said they will not perform abortions there, pregnancy tests and abortion referrals will be among the "services" offered, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Marta Coursey described the clinic as based on a "retail model," the Star-Tribune reported, although Planned Parenthood is considered a "nonprofit" organization. Planned Parenthood's "leaders hope the new clinic will make enough money to help subsidize the rest of its operations," according to the Associated Press (AP). Women on subsidized health plans who don't have the money to pay upfront are not welcome, the AP reported. The clinic may add massages and other pricey spa services later, according to AP. "How tragic to think of teenagers heading out to the mall to go shopping can then just stop by this 'Express' and get an abortion referral to kill their unborn child," Scott Fischbach, executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, told NRL News. Planned Parenthood officials attempted to portray the new clinic as providing only birth control, not abortion. "We'd be very happy if we never again had to perform an abortion. We certainly don't promote abortion," Sarah Stoesz, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, told the Star-Tribune. Pro-lifers warned the public not to believe such false claims. "Nobody should be fooled into thinking that PP is a health care provider or has a mission that is in anyway worthy," said Fischbach. "The bottom line with PP is simple: PP is abortion." "Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota is our state's number one abortionist," he added. "Of the 13,788 unborn children that were killed in 2004, nearly a quarter of them died by the hands of PP. While the number of abortions in Minnesota are at a 30-year low, the number that PP is doing continues to go higher and higher." Fischbach pointed to statistics from St. Cloud, Minnesota, where PP opened a clinic in 2001. From 2001 to 2004, abortions in the four-county area around St. Cloud went up 10%, while abortions statewide went down 7%. "The St. Cloud statistics prove that when PP comes to your town it only means more hurt, torment, and pain for women and death and destruction for our innocent unborn children," Fischbach said. "This PP Express business is further evidence that they will be as creative and aggressive as possible to spread their mission of promoting death and destruction for the women and unborn children in our state." |