In This Issue
- Planned Parenthood upset with Biden
- Planned Parenthood losing in North Dakota
- Planned Parenthood Loses in Arkansas
- Planned Parenthood loses big in Lubbock, Texas
Planned Parenthood upset with Biden
By Jim Sedlak
If you are paying attention to what is happening in our federal government concerning abortion, you most likely think the title of this article is a mistake.
From picking Kamala Harris, an avid Planned Parenthood supporter, as his running mate to installing Xavier Becerra, another big supporter of Planned Parenthood, as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Biden has done nothing but kowtow to the United States’ largest abortion conglomerate.
As reported by FRC Action, Biden has been taking actions that have decimated the pro-life efforts of the previous administration.
- Repealed the Trump administration’s “Mexico City policy,” which prohibited US funds from going to foreign NGOs that perform or promote abortion.
- Withdrew from the US-led Geneva Consensus Declaration, a 34-country agreement that declared abortion is not an international human right and should never be promoted as a method of family planning.
- Took steps to resume funding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which supports abortion in China.
- Started the process to end the Title X Protect Life Rule that made Planned Parenthood withdraw from Title X (and lose $60 million).
- Signed the American Rescue Plan Act (H.R. 1319), a COVID-19 relief package that lacks key abortion funding restrictions on over $459 billion.
- Approved the decision by the US Food and Drug Administration to not enforce long-standing federal regulations that require abortion pills to be dispensed in person; this opens the door to “abortion by mail.”
- Approved the decision by the National Institutes of Health to repeal the Trump-era policy that heavily restricted taxpayer funding of aborted fetal tissue research.
- The White House issued a statement in support of a bill that would make DC the 51st state. DC’s admission as a state would nullify Congressional control over DC’s budget, effectively allowing DC to fund elective abortions.
With all of this, here is what Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in an interview published by the Rewire News Group last week (April 27, 2021):
“I think the president can be stronger in support for abortion. Some of his executive orders came out without using the word, and our other movement colleagues have challenged him on this. The president, with the bully pulpit, cannot further stigmatize abortion by not even deigning to say the word. I think pushing on that then extends to what’s really important right now, like creating access to [the abortion medication] mifepristone through telehealth. We’re still in a pandemic, people still need access to sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion, and the Biden administration could be doing more to press on that for sure.”
For decades, those opposed to Planned Parenthood have had a consistent message—Planned Parenthood is all about abortion. Whether it is surgical abortions, Pill abortions, or early abortions caused by so-called contraceptives that work by preventing an already created human being from implanting in his or her mother’s womb, Planned Parenthood has never met an abortion it doesn’t like.
You would think that, with all the action Biden has taken to push abortions and to give lots more money to Planned Parenthood, Johnson would be happy; clearly, she is not. She really wants Biden to talk about abortion every time he opens his mouth.
All of this is not surprising when you consider how she got involved with Planned Parenthood in the first place. As Johnson told the Washington Post,
“I literally was just walking down the street and saw a billboard that I now know was run by [Life Always]. It had a little Black girl’s face on it, and she just was cute. [Laughs.] And so, I got closer, and I saw the words underneath that said, ‘The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.’ I’m from New Jersey. My family had moved to Georgia. And so, I would travel on holidays and see billboards like that and would totally write that off as being, you know, something that happened in really conservative states. And when I saw it in New York City — it was in SoHo — I just was shocked, like, What is going on here? Then I happened to be at a dinner party with [then-Planned Parenthood CEO] Cecile Richards. We were introduced to each other, and I just kept telling her: ‘This is horrible. You’re the head of Planned Parenthood. You need to do something about this.’ And she said, ‘No, you need to do something about this.’ A few weeks later, I got a note with an invitation to lunch with Cecile. It was there that I just dug in and started to understand how complicated and critical the work is.”
It was an anti-abortion billboard focusing on the impact of abortion on the Black community that got Johnson involved with Planned Parenthood. Now she is the CEO of the entire organization and is unhappy with the most pro-abortion president in US history because he doesn’t mention abortion often enough.
I wonder how many dead Black babies it will take to satisfy her.
Jim Sedlak is executive director of American Life League, founder of STOPP International, and host of a weekly talk show on the Radio Maria Network. He has been successfully fighting Planned Parenthood since 1985.
Planned Parenthood losing in North Dakota
Planned Parenthood does not have a medical center in North Dakota; it does have an educational office run by Planned Parenthood North Central States. For many years, PPNCS has received funds from a federal grant administered by North Dakota State University faculty to support comprehensive sex education.
Pro-life lawmakers in North Dakota have long been upset by this use of taxpayer money and have tried to stop the funding. NDSU administrators defend the expenditure and claim that any attempt by state legislators to block the funding is a violation of the university’s “academic freedom.”
This year, the North Dakota legislature introduced a bill (SB 2030) that specifies, according to the Bismarck Tribune, “. . . any institution that enters into a contract with ‘a person that performs or promotes the performance of an abortion’ would have its operating budget cut by 2.5%. The school official signing the contract also would face a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine.” If the bill is enacted into law, NDSU would lose $2.8 million in funding if it continues to contract with Planned Parenthood.
Obviously, Planned Parenthood and its friends at the university and state government have been fighting hard against SB 2030.
The bill passed the House on a vote of 66-25 and passed the Senate on a vote of 35-11! It was sent to the governor on April 27 for his signature. If the governor were to veto the bill, there should be enough votes in the legislature to override the veto.
Planned Parenthood and the university continue to fight against the bill.
We encourage all our readers to pray that the governor will sign the bill and North Dakotans will finally be freed from funding Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood Loses in Arkansas
The state of Arkansas is using 2021 to pass some pro-life legislation, including the Arkansas Student Protection Act (HB 1592).
The Act says: “A public school or open-enrollment public charter school shall not knowingly enter into any type of transaction with an individual or entity that: (1) Performs abortions; (2) Induces abortions; or (3) Provides abortions.”
This act clearly prohibits Planned Parenthood, which commits Pill abortions at its Little Rock center, from doing anything in Arkansas schools.
The Arkansas Student Protection Act was passed by a vote of 73-18 in the House on April 19; passed by a vote of 27-5 in the Senate on April 21; and signed into law by Governor Asa Hutchinson on April 22.
The Christian Post reported that Jerry Cox of the Arkansas Family Council celebrated the vote, calling it a “good bill” that “will help make sure Planned Parenthood and other abortionists don’t access Arkansas’ public schools.”
It also published Planned Parenthood’s reaction. Gloria Pedro of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, the regional body of the abortion provider that includes Arkansas, denounced the legislation in this statement: “Our students’ basic education should not be jeopardized because of the Legislature’s misguided political agenda.”
Barring Planned Parenthood from Arkansas schools is a major blow to the organization. Planned Parenthood has only one center in Arkansas (in Little Rock) and any expansion plans always involve getting into the schools to indoctrinate young children and get them involved in a sexual lifestyle that then provides a hefty income to Planned Parenthood.
We’re sure it will still try other ways to spread its horrendous programs, but the legislature and governor have now taken away its preferred method.
Congratulations to all the anti-Planned Parenthood individuals and organizations in the Natural State!
Planned Parenthood loses big in Lubbock, Texas
The West Texas city of Lubbock is a pro-life city. Planned Parenthood used to have a center in there but left in 2013. Then, a couple of years ago, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas received a multi-million-dollar gift specifically to open centers in West Texas. It first opened one in El Paso and, in 2020, it opened a new facility in Lubbock. From the beginning, Planned Parenthood said it would commit abortions in Lubbock and began killing babies there just last month.
From the first announcement of Planned Parenthood’s return, Lubbock citizens were looking for a way to make them leave. One of the things they looked at was getting Lubbock officially declared a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn.” That is done normally through a vote of the city council prohibiting abortion within city limits. Twenty-four other cities in Texas and Nebraska have already received that designation. None of those cities have an abortion facility within their city limits. Lubbock would be the largest city and the first to have an operating abortion business. Citizens of Lubbock went to the city council and asked them to make that declaration. After much study and discussion, the city council voted unanimously NOT to pursue such a designation.
Not to be dissuaded, the local citizens circulated a petition to have the local ordinance making Lubbock a Sanctuary City for the Unborn put on the ballot for the next election. They were able to collect more than enough signatures, and the matter was voted on by city residents last Saturday, May 1. Planned Parenthood fought hard against the ordinance.
Over 34,000 Lubbock citizens voted on May 1 and the Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance was approved by 62 percent of the voters. Praise God!
So, what happens now? Because of the US Supreme Court Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey decisions, law enforcement in Lubbock cannot begin arresting people committing abortions in the city. In fact, the ordinance says that no legal action will be taken until SCOTUS makes changes to those two decisions.
However, Section F of the ordinance authorizes certain individuals to bring civil lawsuits against “any person or entity who commits” an abortion within city limits. It specifically authorizes lawsuits from “the unborn child’s mother, father, grandparents, siblings and half-siblings.” It goes on to specify that the person or entity who committed the abortion “shall be liable to each surviving relative of the aborted unborn child for: (a) compensatory damages, including damages for emotional distress; (b) punitive damages; and (c) costs and attorneys’ fees. There is no statute of limitations for this private right of action.”
Although this ordinance does not give fathers of children killed in abortion a way of saving their children’s lives, it does give them the ability to file lawsuits—the fear of which may cause the abortionist and/or staff members to not commit the abortion. Unfortunately, the ordinance, as written, doesn’t allow suing the aborted child’s mother.
The ordinance also says that “any private citizen of Texas … may bring an action to enforce this ordinance …” That action could include “injunctive relief and statutory damages of $2,000 for each violation.”
These lawsuits can be pursued even with the current Supreme Court decisions.
The mayor of Lubbock, Dan Post, issued the following statement on the city’s website: “Over the course of several months, Lubbock citizens who support the ordinance and those opposed have expressed their thoughts in public forums and engaged in passionate debate on this sensitive issue. Today, voters made it clear that Lubbock will become the next sanctuary city for the unborn. I am encouraged by the significant voter turnout. On behalf of the City Council, our duty as elected officials is to begin the process in adding the approved ordinance to the City of Lubbock Code of Ordinances, as directed by the Lubbock City Charter. The Lubbock City Council, per state law, will canvass the votes from this election on Tuesday, May 11, with a likely ordinance effective date as early as June 1.”
Planned Parenthood’s immediate reaction was to say that the Lubbock center will remain open and that its lawyers are studying the ordinance to determine whether it will continue to commit abortions. Obviously, Planned Parenthood is concerned about the potential lawsuits.
Congratulations to the citizens of Lubbock for your tenacity and your support of preborn children!
We encourage all our readers to explore the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn movement to see if a similar ordinance can be implemented in your town.