In the last week, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund revealed a joint effort to save their corporate existence. Planned Parenthood announced a new nationwide community organizing campaign to mobilize its supporters across the country.
Planned Parenthood has identified 1,000 young people it will send to four training events (250 at each) in September. The events are scheduled to take place in Seattle (WA), Phoenix (AZ), Oklahoma City (OK), and Charlotte (NC). These three-day trainings will cover digital programs, protests, congressional town halls, and the more basic work of building volunteer structures. BuzzFeed reports that Planned Parenthood will equip volunteers with online tools like phone banks and webinars, as well as “lots of pink materials, including shirts.”
It is expected that PP will choose 600 of the 1,000 attendees as volunteer leaders and send them to lead organizing efforts in the 600 communities where it still operates medical facilities. This massive campaign will be very costly (PP estimates a half-a-million dollars just to run the training sessions in September) and must be taken seriously by those opposed to the reign of terror coming from this murderous organization.
In other news this week, opponents of Planned Parenthood scored a major victory in Reading, Pennsylvania, after a very heated three-month battle. The Reading School District had planned to sign a contract with AccessMatters (a Philadelphia based organization that has a “School Based Heath Resource Center” program) to run a center in the Reading High School. The center would have provided students with condoms, testing for pregnancy and some sexually transmitted diseases, and referrals to local providers for other health concerns, including prenatal care and social services. The day-to-day operations of the center would be run by Planned Parenthood Keystone. On August 24, the Reading school board voted NOT to put this center in the city high school. Throughout the fight, local parents, pro-life groups, and others did a great deal of education, held rallies, and spoke at Reading School District board meetings telling everyone that Planned Parenthood should not be allowed near the children. In the end, the RSD board voted 5–4 against the center.
American Life League was honored to have played a role in this fight and in helping local activists keep Planned Parenthood out of the schools. Kathy Kuhns, president of Pro-Life Berks, told us that one school board member, who voted against the center, said he received 580 e-mails. He read every one and said that most of them were against the center.
As this fight against the center began, AccessMatters and Planned Parenthood were already running a similar center in the I-Lead Charter School in Reading. During the battle over the high school center, the I-Lead School decided not to renew the contract with AccessMatters, so Planned Parenthood will no longer be in that school. Praise God!
This one battle actually had two victories! God can do wonders, but He needs us to pray and take action. The folks in and around Reading did just that.