In This Issue
- Abortion and Planned Parenthood in 2021
- Planned Parenthood Uses Sex Toys to Fund Abortion Access in Texas
- Planned Parenthood Targeting Indiana
- Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Abortion and Planned Parenthood in 2021
The year 2021 was one of those years when organizations and individuals who either support abortion rights or condemn abortion as murder could point to gains and losses in their efforts. Those who think the wanton killing of preborn children is justified can point to all the efforts of the Biden administration to remove any protection for preborn children from federal policies this year.
Biden used executive orders and actions that simply ignored established procedures to force Planned Parenthood’s view on abortion as an unfettered right to unlock the doors to federal money and swing them wide open to Planned Parenthood and other killers of children. The clearest example of this was the changes to the Title X program, which were done at an unheard-of speed. There are procedures that are supposed to be followed when making changes to longtime federal programs. When Trump took office in 2017 and sought to eliminate Title X funding from Planned Parenthood, he followed established procedure and made the change, but it took him the better part of three years to accomplish the task. Biden, on the other hand, in answer to a demand from Planned Parenthood, just bypassed the normal procedures, and in less than 10 months, announced that Planned Parenthood would be rejoining the Title X program in the 2022 fiscal year.
But, despite these national-level gains, Planned Parenthood continued to face problems at the state level. The Guttmacher Institute (originally founded as the research arm of Planned Parenthood) reports that 106 abortion restrictions were enacted across 19 states in 2021, leading Elizabeth Nash, principal policy associate of state issues at the Guttmacher Institute, to tell Reuters that “(This) was the worst legislative year for U.S. abortion rights since Roe v. Wade.”
Planned Parenthood saw this play out at the state level. During 2020, Planned Parenthood “temporarily closed” 19 locations in six states. During 2021, it was only able to reopen eight of those clinics (five in New York state and one each in Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania).
Of course, not all states are trying to save preborn babies. As we reported last month, the state of California is working closely with Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups to make the state into an abortion haven. The plan is to have the state pay for almost all abortions and to provide travel and lodging expenses for women who come to California from other states to kill their children.
The battle at the Supreme Court of the United States is also a place where those wanting unfettered abortion are facing increasing obstacles. Texas passed a Heartbeat Law (SB 8) this year that uniquely tried to end most abortions in the state after six weeks gestation through an exceptional “citizen lawsuit” approach. When SCOTUS was asked on September 1 to stop the law from going into effect, it refused to do so by a vote of 5-4. When the Biden administration filed a lawsuit against Texas and tried to force the court to put the law on hold, SCOTUS included a discussion of this law with a previously scheduled hearing on a Mississippi law that put restriction on abortion after 15 weeks gestation. Although the court has not announced any decision on the Mississippi case, SCOTUS did announce it would continue to let the Texas law remain in effect.
All this tends to sound positive, but a look at the legislation being supported by many pro-life groups leads to the unmistakable conclusion that these apparent legislative gains are being made on the bodies of many preborn babies. Just about every “pro-life” law has exceptions.
The first class of exceptions should be obvious but are just not acknowledged. We talk about the Texas law that regulates abortions after six weeks or the Mississippi law that regulates abortion after 15 weeks. That means that these laws offer no protections to any preborn babies less than six weeks old (in Texas) or 15 weeks old (in Mississippi).
Then we get to the other exceptions. Some pro-lifers insist on killing a preborn child to protect the “life of the woman,” even though no doctor can attest to any situation where the direct killing of a preborn child saves a mother’s life. Another common exception is “rape and incest.” In this situation, many who call themselves “pro-life” are willing to kill an innocent child for a crime committed by his or her father.
As we look to 2022, we call on all pro-lifers to fight for every baby every time. The House version of the Life at Conception Act (H.R. 1011) would do this. This bill has been in Congress for decades, but it never gets voted on despite having 132 cosponsors. It is past time we move that and similar legislation forward at the federal and state levels.
2022: The year to save all preborn babies by banning abortion—every time and for every reason.
Jim Sedlak is the 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 Uses Sex Toys to Fund Abortion Access in Texas
In early November, we told you about Planned Parenthood’s obsession with getting kids involved in sex. From its beginning, PP has been focused on promoting sexual activity among unmarried minors. This is one of the main reasons why it pushes for harmful sexuality training programs among underage kids. In 1986, Planned Parenthood even set a goal of having mandatory comprehensive sexuality education programs (K-12) in every school district in the nation.
Thirty-five years later it is not even close to achieving its goal, but it continues to pressure school boards to implement sex ed. While Planned Parenthood has not given up, it has implemented some alternative methods to achieving its goal. Many Planned Parenthood affiliates have implemented “peer educator” groups where Planned Parenthood recruits impressionable high-school age youths and pays them to learn all about Planned Parenthood’s ideas of sex and living a sexual lifestyle. In many of these programs, Planned Parenthood financially rewards students who successfully convince their friends to become customers of Planned Parenthood.
Recently, a Planned Parenthood college group demonstrated how it has bought into the Planned Parenthood lifestyle. The Cornell Daily Sun student newspaper reported that the Planned Parenthood Generation Action group at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, has become very concerned with the Texas Heartbeat law (SB 8). The group started a campaign to raise funds to “help Texans with the costs of abortions as well as travel and lodging to states where abortions are available.”
You might wonder how a group goes about raising such funds other than by simply asking for donations. Well, in typical Planned Parenthood style, the Planned Parenthood Generation Action Cornell group decided to raise the funds by raffling off a collection of sex toys from an online porn site catering to female customers. The organization’s Instagram post revealed that the collection of sex toys includes “four different kinds of vibrators, condoms, lubricant, and vulva-shaped gummy candies.”
The group reported that over $2,000 was collected and that the sum of $211.08 was donated to each of 10 groups (Texas Equal Access Fund, Fund Texas Choice, West Fund, Clinic Access Support Network, the Lilith Fund, The Bridge Collective, Jane’s Due Process, Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, Inc., Frontera Fund, and Support Your Sistah at the Afiya Center).
Although many people don’t believe that Planned Parenthood is in the sex business, when things like this occur, it just proves what the organization considers important and how it gets its college groups to focus on sex first.
Planned Parenthood Targeting Indiana
As an organization, Planned Parenthood has been through a tough time over the last few years. Although its abortion numbers are up, just about every other service offered by the abortion giant is down. Also down are its customer numbers (from 3.1 million to 2.4 million), its individual donors (from 1,500,000 to 590,000), and its number of medical centers (from 938 to 563). It has zero medical centers in North Dakota and Wyoming.
A few years ago, in its efforts to shore up its business, Planned Parenthood turned to one of its affiliate CEOs who has a great record in merging separate Planned Parenthood affiliates into a single, cohesive operation. That CEO is Chris Charbonneau.
Charbonneau has been a CEO for Planned Parenthood affiliates for over 28 years. She began her career with Planned Parenthood as a volunteer in Seattle in 1982 as a sexuality educator and public policy volunteer. In 1986, she started PP of Greater Arkansas and then became chief operating officer of Planned Parenthood of Seattle-King County—in charge of 12 medical centers. She was promoted to the CEO position in 1993 and led the affiliate from a $3 million to a $17 million organization. After that, she became Planned Parenthood’s chief merger expert.
First, there was a three-affiliate merger that created PP of Western Washington (PPWW) in 1996. Then another three-affiliate merger combining PP of Alaska, PP of Idaho, and PP of Western Washington to form PP of the Great Northwest (PPGNW) in 2008. Later, Hawaii joined the other groups to form PP of the Greater Northwest and Hawaiian Islands. That merger left Charbonneau in charge of 27 medical centers in Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, and western Washington in 2019. Today, 26 of the 27 centers commit surgical and/or pill abortions. The only one that doesn’t commit abortions was one of the five centers it runs in Seattle (the other four commit abortions).
When Planned Parenthood Federation of America began having problems at its affiliate that covered Indiana and Kentucky, it looked to Charbonneau for help. At the time, PPINK (Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky) was losing money, and only a small number of its centers committed abortions. On February 1, 2019, Planned Parenthood announced a “strategic alliance” between Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky and Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands. As this strategic alliance took place, the CEO of PPGNHI, Christine Charbonneau, also became the CEO of PPINK.
STOPP noted at the time this “alliance” was announced that “PPGNHI runs 27 facilities in four states and 26 do surgical or medical abortions. PPINK runs 18 facilities in two states and four do surgical or medical abortions. The real purpose of this ‘strategic alliance’ is to get more abortion facilities operated by Planned Parenthood in Kentucky and Indiana.”
Charbonneau immediately began infusing cash into PPINK (some reports say $1 million in the first year). In addition, one of the first things Charbonneau did was to reopen PP’s clinic in Fort Wayne, IN. On January 31, 2020, Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky announced that its Louisville Health Center will now “provide abortion services.”
Then, on April 2, 2021, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and Hawaiian Islands made it official. It announced it had formally merged with Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky. The new organization is now officially known as Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai‘i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky (PPGNHAIK). The affiliate now runs 44 centers, and 31 commit abortions.
Charbonneau will want to increase the number that commit abortions, but she first needs to rehabilitate Planned Parenthood’s reputation in Indiana.
What appears to be the first step in that plan is this week’s announcement that “Planned Parenthood now offers gender-affirming hormone care in several states where access to such care is extremely limited,” including Indiana. Planned Parenthood has used this expansion of transgender services across the country in recent years to increase its organizational acceptance. In addition to providing an increased revenue stream (once a person starts taking hormones, they must keep taking them on a regular basis), the organization uses those services to label any of its opposition as “bigots.”
We see this transgender services rollout for what it is—a cover for its forthcoming abortion expansion.
STOPP has had the honor of working with a number of great pro-life organizations in Indiana in the past and has spent much time on the sidewalks in front of Planned Parenthood in Indianapolis and elsewhere. We look forward to joining with them again in warding off the Planned Parenthood abortion thrust.
Charbonneau may have been able to spread Planned Parenthood’s abortion business in Washington, Idaho, Alaska, and Hawaii, but she is now dealing with pro-lifers in Indiana and Kentucky. We’ll bet on the pro-lifers in the Hoosier and Bluegrass states every time.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
This will be the last WSR in 2021. Our next issue will be on January 5, 2022.
As you prepare to celebrate the coming holy days (Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary), please remember the reason for the season.
The Church celebrates March 25 as the Feast of the Annunciation—the day that the angel appeared to Mary and announced that she would become the Mother of God, if she was willing. Mary replied, “Let it be done to me according to your word,” and Jesus began residing in her womb.
In just 10 days, we will celebrate Christmas Day—the day Jesus was born and the world received its King.
Every family has its Christmas traditions. I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s, and my family would always go to midnight Mass and welcome the Christ child right after His birth—a tradition my wife and I continued with our own family.
In 1998, after our children were all married, we moved to Virginia and began new traditions that included, of course, Christmas Day Mass, although not always at midnight.
Part of our new traditions, until last year, was a trip to our native New York and to attend the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall between Christmas and New Year’s Day. This is always an exciting show featuring holiday songs and energetic dance numbers.
But the one highlight of the show is always the Living Nativity scene. The show ends with a depiction of the nativity of Jesus, complete with live camels and the three Wise Men.
Last year the show was canceled due to the pandemic. This year the show has so many COVID restrictions that we decided to forgo the experience.
As disappointing as that is, it does give us the opportunity to present to you the message given to those in the audience at the end of every Living Nativity.
The narrator concludes with a recitation of “One Solitary Life.” We present the following words to you as our Christmas gift to all who proclaim the truth that Jesus is the reason for the season.
“One Solitary Life”
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was 30, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city.
He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place He was born. He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.
He was only 33 when the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves.
While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His clothing, the only property He had on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race, the leader of mankind’s progress.
All the armies that ever marched,
all the navies that ever sailed,
all the parliaments that ever sat,
all the kings that ever reigned, put together,
have not affected the life of man on earth as much as that One Solitary Life.