Planned Parenthood has been under fire in recent weeks, ever since a San Jose, Calif.-based anti-abortion group called Live Action released footage from several clinics, indicating that staff members were willing to aid sex traffickers in the exploitation of underage girls.
In response, anti-abortion groups called for a nationwide vigil to be held from noon to 1 p.m. in front of Planned Parenthood clinics on Monday.
Tracy Simmons of Acworth, a mother of four whose children attend Pickett’s Mill Elementary and Durham Middle School, was among those who stood in protest.
“The videos are showing that Planned Parenthood Corporation is allowing a system-wide participation and tolerance for this kind of activity,” Simmons said. “They’re so deceived. Deception is complete. I mean, from what you read, if you look at Planned Parenthood’s leaders, and what they’re writing, and their origins, there’s just real evil there. Do you know what I mean? Evil. It’s population control. It’s playing God.”
In response to the allegations and the vigil, Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Leola Reis said her organization was composed of health professionals focused on their patients, not on protestors. Reis, who said her group has been providing health services in Marietta for more than 25 years, said her staff works here because they care about women and men’s health. Planned Parenthood patients can always count on staff to stay focused on delivering the care they need and deserve, she said.
“In recent weeks, supporters of Planned Parenthood have told us they are alarmed by the highly political attacks on our organization and our wonderful staff,” Reis said. “Our supporters, many of whom were once our patients, want us to stay focused on providing essential, lifesaving health care to everyone who needs it. Our supporters are strongly opposed to all efforts to harm Planned Parenthood and the women and young people we care for. Those who truly care about preventing unintended pregnancies would work with Planned Parenthood to increase access to prevention initiatives like birth control and age-appropriate, evidence-based sex education.”
But protestor and paralegal Colleen Sullivan of Marietta, a mother of three, said she objects to Planned Parenthood receiving tax money.
“They get a million dollars every day, for every day of the year, from our tax dollars,” Sullivan said. “Three-hundred-sixty-three million was their last financial statement they received from our tax money, and it does not go to family planning. That is not their moneymaker. It’s abortion. Each woman that walks in there is paying $500 to $1,000 for an abortion.”
David Hall, a software developer, and his wife, Ann, who live in Smyrna and attend Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Sandy Springs, were among the protestors, holding signs that read, “Tell Congress No Tax Dollars for Planned Parenthood.”
“It is Valentine’s Day,” Ann Hall said. “The day of love. And abortion is kind of the antithesis of love.”
David Hall said one fact people may not realize is that Planned Parenthood is “the number one provider of abortions in the United States.”
Grisselle Lares-Bazzani of Kennesaw, who has one son at Mercer Law School and another at Blessed Trinity in Roswell, chairs a pro-life group called 40 Days for Life.
“(Planned Parenthood) will provide information on how to get an abortion,” Lares-Bazzani explained. “They will never ever tell you the consequences of the abortion. They will never ever refer you to a pregnancy center. So that’s what we are against. They don’t give you the option. The only option they give you is yes go with your abortion.”
Photographer Tim Harman of Marietta, the father of a 5-month-old son, said he too was protesting to stop tax money from going to the organization.
“They provide abortions, and we want to see an end to that. It’s killing innocent human beings,” Harman said. “I think of abortion in much the same way that people used to think of slavery. At the time it was socially acceptable, and that is much the same way that we look upon abortion today. I look at historical figures like William Wilberforce that fought for years upon years to end the slave trade in the British Empire. I’m trying to fight to end abortion.”
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Adoption seems to be a popular option as well, but I seem to hear about it more from people who are the protesters against abortion. I read one comment that said there are not many babies to adopt, but there are older children that need the same love and good homes. Some children go through their lives in foster homes and there are people out there that only take in these children for the money. I'm under the impression that we stop caring as soon as a child is born and at a certain age.
Why not go into one of the organizations and ask questions? Our tax dollars are being used for more, but we need to at least found out for ourselves rather than just believing everything we read because someone has a chip on their shoulder.
I wud suggest that someone not wanting an abortion visit other service practioners.
Whether or not I have had an abortion is not a necc factor in my ability to decipher a good business plan from a bad one.
Plain and simple, you are an idiot.
Are you really comparing the lack of counseling from Planned Parenthood about adoption to ordering a Big Mac or purchasing a car? A burger will come and go within days, a car-several years. But the possible physical and emotional scars left from an abortion may never completely disappear.
You must have never had an abortion, known anyone close to you who has or you would know the damages it can do.
The laws seem pretty clear about what constitutes aiding in a crime. These questions need to be answered.
Whatever people's position on abortion, whatever their emotional attachment to Planned Parenthood, we should all welcome full disclosure of what goes on inside organizations, especially when we're supporting them with our tax dollars.
Were those posing as human traffickers properly reported? Again, study the evidence on both sides.
In my case, this peaceful demonstration and report in my community paper served its purpose: pointing me to some issues I wasn't aware of and urging me to study further to draw my own conclusions.
“Our supporters, many of whom were once our patients, want us to stay focused on providing essential, lifesaving health care to everyone who needs it." I don't think the aborted babies received any 'lifesaving care'.
There are a lot of people out there who cannot have children and are more than willing to adopt. The sad truth is that are not enough babies to adopt... if we really cared for women we would give them real solutions, real options.
I would suggest Planned Parenthood promoted more adoptions programs (or create a fund for people willing to adopt) with all the tax dollars they get.
There are numerous other services provided by these folks than just terminating pregnancies.
Second of all, of all their funding, about a third comes from government state and federal, funds and contracts. That's right, the state and federal governments contract services with Planned Parenthood.
Third, and finally, did you notice that a good number of protesters are Catholics from the newly-relocated Archdiocese of Atlanta. Yes, that's right. Where do you think the Archdiocese new building is located? Right there in Smyrna in Cobb County.
As for "population control," let's take a look at citizens of China who are, by law, only allowed to have one child -- thus so many baby girls are drowned, abandoned, etc. The fee to "buy" a baby from China starts around $25K - which doesn't include incidentals like airfare, clothing, diapers, food, etc. When you "buy" a baby from China, all you get is a naked child.
If these people were to put their money where their mouths are, they'd redirect their efforts towards serious, responsible sex education, not to mention making the adoption processes from outside countries easier.
This edited video released by the pro-life advocacy group doesn't demonstrate any wrongdoing. Planned Parenthood reported the staged requests for information to the FBI. They are an organization that provides birth control, family planning services, gynocological services and abortion services. It is what they do and they do it with professionalism and respect.
Those visits are part of a 'dirty tricks' campaign, and must be condemned. Falsely claiming sex trafficking to health professionals to advance a political agenda is an astoundingly cynical form of political activity.
FYI Live Action is associated with James O’Keefe, the idiot who was arrested for attempting to wiretap the offices of Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Don't even get me started on the ACORN footage edits.
Any chants of "What do we want? ORPHANAGES! When do we want 'em? NOW!"
Fact is voluntary placement of children for adoption is relatively rare in the United States and less than 150,000 children a year are adopted.
In 2009 we Georgians still had 1791 children in foster care waiting to be adopted yet Georgians adopted over 300 children from foreign countries.
Just sayin'.