By Rob Gasper
Instrumentum Laboris, the Vatican’s working document for the upcoming Extraordinary Synod on the Family, identifies the leading challenges facing the modern family. Planned Parenthood is not named specifically in this document. However, it should be, for it is easy to demonstrate that the evil designs of Planned Parenthood fall into nearly every category of threats to the family that this document proposes.
One section in particular highlights five forces of external pressure on families. These external forces, including excessive work, migration, poverty, consumerism, and the Church’s weakening moral credibility, are shown in the document to contribute toward the degradation and dissolution of the family. These are true areas of pressure, but to be complete, the document should expand to identify the International Planned Parenthood Federation—and its country affiliates—as the root cause of the most serious of the family’s problems.
Planned Parenthood threatens the family at nearly every essential point. First, Planned Parenthood focuses on children, labeling them as sexual beings and enticing them to a life of self-gratification rather than the selfless commitment of family life. Second, Planned Parenthood destroys the unity of families by insisting on the use of contraception. Contraception destroys unity between spouses and splits the spouses into two separate instruments for the satisfaction of sexual desires. Finally, Planned Parenthood’s contraceptives crush the life out of families. Planned Parenthood’s contraceptive peddling closes families to children, and failing that, it stands ready to kill the children through its abortion chambers.
Planned Parenthood is the very definition of an external source of pressure on the family. It attacks both the unity and life of the family, and its education programs seek to snuff out the very vocation of marriage in our youth.
Planned Parenthood is truly an enemy of the family and of the Church. We pray that the synod singles Planned Parenthood out and names it as such, as well as considers ways to arm the modern family in defense against Planned Parenthood’s culture of death.
Rob Gasper is a senior research analyst for American Life League and is the editor of ALL News.