Dear Colleague:
Pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood are busy "helping" the
women affected by Hurricane Katrina the only way they know how-by
exterminating their offspring.
Steven W. Mosher
President
PRI Weekly Briefing
9 September 2005
Vol. 7 / No. 35
Reaching Out in the Astrodome
By Joseph A. D'Agostino
Abortion providers have their own relief efforts underway for the victims
of Hurricane Katrina. But instead of going into emergency mode and giving
female evacuees what they need most-food, water, shelter, and basic
medical care-abortion providers have been offering their usual services,
to women and girls who are temporarily in an especially vulnerable state.
Instead of trying to support these women through their pregnancies in this
difficult time, these folks want to help eliminate their offspring.
Planned Parenthood even has workers combing Houston's Astrodome, looking
for takers. They are promoting not only free birth control pills, but
free morning-after pills (euphemistically called "emergency
contraception"). The morning-after pill sometimes prevents the
implantation of an already-conceived child, and thus it kills.
"Birth control pills are basic medical care," said Rochelle Tafolla, a
spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas. She
explained that Planned Parenthood is not providing food or other such aid
because "our area is reproductive health care for women. . . . After
natural disasters, there are increases in unplanned pregnancies." Women
who left their birth control pills behind "don't have to worry about the
expense" of getting more, since Planned Parenthood is providing a free one
month's supply to each female victim of Katrina who asks, she said. She
said pills were not being distributed at the Astrodome itself, but Planned
Parenthood representatives were promoting Planned Parenthood's services
there.
Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood is not only providing the standard birth
control pill, but the high-dose form of it called the morning-after pill
(MAP) that can be taken up to 72-120 hours after intercourse to prevent or
end a pregnancy. Taking the standard line of pro-abortion activists,
Tafolla insisted that MAP does not cause abortion though she admitted it
sometimes prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg. "Abortion is the
termination of a pregnancy," and pregnancy begins at implantation, not
fertilization, she said. She said that she was unaware of any rape
victims asking for MAP from her Planned Parenthood group, and said Planned
Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas is not offering free surgical
abortions to Katrina victims.
The national Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is using the
Katrina disaster to raise funds for its affiliates in the Gulf region.
How much is this cutting into donations for genuine relief efforts?
"Planned Parenthood clinics in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, and in other affected areas, are doing everything possible to
attend to the needs of patients in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,"
says PPFA. " Help the surviving Planned Parenthood affiliates and health
centers in these states remain open to serve patients that are most in
need at this critical time. Your tax-deductible contribution will help
Planned Parenthood affiliates and health centers in Louisiana, Alabama,
Mississippi, and in other affected areas. 100% of your gift will go
directly to the Planned Parenthood affiliates and health centers in that
region so that they can serve women and families who have nowhere else to
turn."
In a small bit of good news, Texas recently decided to cut off state
funding for Planned Parenthood and redirect its money to crisis pregnancy
centers, and there is one less abortion clinic providing such services in
south Texas: The clinic in Pharr, Tex., closed as a result of the budget
cut.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana is also providing free "emergency
contraceptive services" to victims of Hurricane Katrina, as is Planned
Parenthood of New Mexico, and Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa is
giving "free contraceptive care." Planned Parenthood of Nebraska &
Council Bluffs says it "is responding to the people arriving in Nebraska
or Council Bluffs who are displaced by Hurricane Katrina with free
reproductive health services which include all contraception methods,
emergency contraception, STD testing and treatment. . . ." Others are
making similar offers. With MAP now considered "contraception" even
though it sometimes acts after conception, this means free abortion.
Other abortionists now use Katrina for their fundraising. The website of
the National Abortion Federation, the umbrella group for American abortion
clinics, says, "Hurricane Katrina victims can call the NAF toll-free
hotline to speak with professional hotline operators who can help with
options counseling and with referrals to providers of quality reproductive
health care services. On a limited basis, hotline staff also may be able
to help raise the funds necessary to help cover the cost of quality
abortion care. . . . Donations to our Hotline Assistance Fund will allow
us to provide the financial assistance desperately needed by women
affected by Hurricane Katrina."
It's a sad day when, despite the continuing lack of basic services for
Katrina's victims, abortionists are busy plying their dismal trade among
the lost and homeless, using the disaster as an excuse to end more lives
and make money.
Joseph A. D'Agostino is Vice President for Communications at the
Population Research Institute.
_________
PRI
P.O. Box 1559
Front Royal, VA 22630
USA
Phone: (540) 622-5240 Fax: (540) 622-2728
Email: jad@pop.org
Media Contact: Joseph A. D'Agostino
(540) 622-5240, ext. 204
_________
(c) 2005 Population Research Institute. Permission to reprint granted.
Redistribute widely. Credit required.
_________
If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to PRI, please go to
https://pop.org/donate.cfm. All
donations (of any size) are welcomed and
appreciated.
_________
To subscribe to the Weekly Briefing, send an email to:
JOIN-PRI@Pluto.Sparklist.com
or email pri@pop.org and say "Add me to your
Weekly Briefing."
__________
The pro-life Population Research Institute is dedicated to ending human
rights abuses committed in the name of "family planning," and to ending
counter-productive social and economic paradigms premised on the myth of
"overpopulation."