Five FL Planned Parenthood clinics stop seeing customers
There is much confusion about the status of Planned Parenthood clinics in Boca Raton, FL and the surrounding areas. According to various reports, PP is scrambling as the local affiliate, Planned Parenthood of South Palm Beach and Broward Counties, is having severe financial difficulties.
Information received by STOPP indicates that, apparently, five clinics run by this affiliate still have their doors open, but are not seeing any customers. PP customers are reportedly being referred to other local providers. We also note that the affiliate's web site has been taken down.
According to one report, the affiliate's Form 990, a reporting form that certain tax-exempt organizations must file annually with the IRS, showed total revenue of $3,361,439, and a deficit of $12,709 for 2005. This is hardly enough of a loss to cause major problems.
The actual reason for these changes is more likely tied to four board members resigning in the past few years over management questions. Moreover, several weeks ago, the affiliate's chief executive resigned and was replaced by an interim officer. It should also be noted that Planned Parenthood Federation of America recently audited the affiliate's operations.
There is a great deal of speculation that this affiliate will merge with one of the other PP affiliates in the area. Employees have been laid off and it appears that some clinics will close while the merger takes place. PP claims that a merger would make it "better, stronger and more efficient," but what else can PP say? It wouldn't want to inform the public that it is falling apart.
Ruth Lynch, the affiliate's new chief executive officer said, "If we are not around in this community, we are in trouble. The whole community is in trouble." Actually, the whole community will be safer when PP leaves town.
STOPP will bring you updated information on this situation as it becomes available. For now, let us be thankful that many PP customers are no longer being treated at PP facilities. We hope and pray they find real health care at the medical offices they have been referred to.
Congressman Mike Pence perseveres: New amendment to defund Planned Parenthood
Last summer, Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana offered an amendment to the appropriations bill that funds the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. The amendment was designed to prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used to fund Planned Parenthood. The Pence Amendment stated very clearly that "no funds under Title X may be granted to Planned Parenthood."
Although the amendment failed by a vote of 189-231, the fact that Congress did vote on it was, in and of itself, a huge step forward. An amendment needs 218 votes to pass if all members are present. If the Pence Amendment had received only 29 more votes, it would have passed.
Rep. Pence is not giving up. He is working on bringing this amendment to the House floor again this year, to take Title X money out of PP's hands.
We encourage you to contact your members of Congress now and let them know how you feel about taxpayer funding of PP. You can find out how your congressman voted by following the link to last year's vote results. It is important that every member of Congress knows that his or her constituents want taxpayer funding of PP stopped.
We also invite you to sign our petition at www.StopPlannedParenthoodTaxFunding.com.
Over 100 protest Plattsburgh, NY Planned Parenthood clinic
After prevailing in a struggle with the city council to obtain needed permits, dedicated STOPPers in Plattsburgh, NY protested outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on Good Friday, March 21. The event, which was organized by the Champlain Valley Right to Life and the Bishop's Apostles, brought out more than 100 to witness and proclaim the truth.
We are very happy to report such activities and we encourage YOU to take part in regularly scheduled protests. Please visit American Life League's Map Room: Activism Against Planned Parenthood's web site at www.all.org/stopp/maps.
Teen pregnancy: A failed approach
The following is a letter to the editor written by Kathleen S. Lawlor of Mequon, WI. It was published in the March 22 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and reads as follows:
The recent report that more than one in four teen girls has a sex-related disease is a tragic reflection of the social disaster spawned by Planned Parenthood and all the contraceptive-based sex education in public schools. The timely op-ed by Sally Ladky, executive director of Wisconsin Abstinence Coalition, was right on the mark in calling for us to give our kids a better future ("Sex ed push is narrow approach," March 8).
The answer to teen pregnancy will not be found in teaching students about contraceptives, which have an abysmal record in preventing diseases, in questionable "health" classes that many students regard as embarrassing and/or silly. It only will be found in teaching our young people that they were made for a true love that is self-sacrificing.
Our children need to be taught that they are made for someone who will accept them for who they are and commit to them for the rest of their lives in a permanent relationship that is marriage. They need to be told that they were not meant to be used and discarded and that their fertility is a great gift to give to their future spouse, not something that should be suppressed or mutilated. They need to be told that children are the highest blessing of the love of two faithful people, not accessories to be ignored or aborted when they are inconvenient, which is the implicit message of the Planned Parenthood approach.
Millions of tax dollars given over many years to Planned Parenthood, the largest promoter of birth control and abortion in our nation, has only wreaked havoc on our inner cities and society in general. It is long past time for parents, school boards and educators to change what clearly has not worked.
Kathleen understands the reality reflected in this study. It is because of Planned Parenthood and its sex education programs that teens are participating in illicit sexual behavior and thus increasing their chances of contracting and spreading sexually transmitted diseases. Sign our petition and tell your congressman to defund Planned Parenthood once and for all.
Last week to send Mass intentions for Feast of the Annunciation
This is the last week to add a mother and child's names to our list of Mass intentions for the Feast of the Annunciation, to be celebrated on March 31.
American Life League will be marking this day with a special Mass offered for the safe delivery of all preborn children in the womb. We want to pray specifically for as many children as possible that day. The feast is celebrated on March 31 this year because March 25 falls within the Octave of Easter.
Please click here to view a list of suggested activities from the booklet Life Is a Miracle and to add a mother and child to our Mass intentions list.
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