Planned Parenthood opens another Florida facility; pro-lifers protest
Planned Parenthood opened a new center last week, located at 1105 53rd Avenue East in Bradenton, Florida. Apparently it won't be committing medical or surgical abortions there, but will be selling abortion-causing chemical birth control and will refer mothers to other Planned Parenthood facilities to kill their preborn babies.
It's PP's first facility in Manatee County and is run by Planned Parenthood of Southwest & Central Florida. This affiliate's overall plan is to expand its abortion business in the next few years, establish a new regional headquarters and build three additional clinics in Manatee, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, as part of its Time to Build Campaign. The campaign's goal is to raise $750,000. The Bradenton facility is the first of the three new clinics.
However, Planned Parenthood was not able to open this new facility without opposition, since there were about 50 pro-lifers who protested it and put a negative spin on Planned Parenthood that was visible to the community. Although there was scant mention of them in the local newspaper, we have a personal account from Jim Styer, Right to Life of Sarasota and Manatee's president, who organized the protest:
The Prayer Vigil by pro-lifers during the Bradenton Planned Parenthood open house Wednesday was a victory ... except in the media.
At least 45 pro-lifers participated, displaying signs along the sidewalk and road. From very heavy passing traffic for more than 2 hours, there was an almost constant stream of horn honks in support of the signs, "Pray for an end to abortion." Many of the participants were from Church on the Rock and Happy Gospel church, including several young people.
Not visible to the public was the ribbon-cutting gathering at the PP office in the rear of the medical complex. The public knew about that only from the media coverage by ABC 7, which had a brief report at 11 p.m. Wednesday but nothing on-line, and the Bradenton Herald.
The top front-page story today in the Bradenton Herald (copied below) is "Planned Parenthood opens local clinic," with a photo of the entrance door. The story continues inside, with a photo of some of the Prayer Vigil participants. The photo, however, shows only about 4 people, much less than the actual number. Captions for photos on the paper's web site speak of a "small group of protesters."
We are always reminded that we do this work for God, not for any public glory. The paper may not have accurately reported on the protest, but we're sure that as God looked down on the scene, He must have smiled when He saw all those publicly standing up for His children.
California passes Reproductive Rights Law Enforcement Act
California is allowing Planned Parenthood to continue its aggressive fight against the pro-life movement. Last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that means that California pro-lifers are going to have a tougher time protesting against abortion mills. The new law extends the "Reproductive Rights Law Enforcement Act" into the year 2014 and requires the state to gather data on crimes against abortion providers. Planned Parenthood is also trying to create a tougher law enforcement stance against what they consider "aggressive protesting."
Planned Parenthood has complained that the statistics on crimes against abortion providers are misleading because many police officers are not properly trained to deal with protesters and that law enforcement is systematically underreporting such crimes. However, it is actually Planned Parenthood that has often bullied pro-life protesters outside of its clinics.
Is Planned Parenthood committing abortion in South Dakota?
On Monday, July 21, a new law took effect in the state of South Dakota. As we reported on July 2, this law requires doctors to inform mothers who seek to abort their babies that abortion will "terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being."
You may have seen many comments on pro-life news blogs reporting the "closing" of the Planned Parenthood abortion mill in Sioux Falls. According to the stories, when South Dakota's new informed consent law went into effect, Planned Parenthood closed its abortion business - essentially because abortionists refused to fly in from Minnesota, in fear of violating the law. Planned Parenthood reportedly denied all of this and said it was continuing to commit abortions and has been accepting appointments.
To investigate these stories, STOPP checked with the loyal anti-Planned Parenthood folks who have a daily presence outside this PP facility. According to their report, we cannot confirm what is being reported by some pro-life media outlets. On Monday, July 28, Planned Parenthood opened at 8 a.m., and there was a lot of business there. While the local pro-life activists could not confirm that abortions were being performed then, it seemed to them to be "business as usual."
We will continue to monitor the situation and bring you reports from people at the scene. Please pray that PP will stop doing abortions in Sioux Falls and everywhere else.
Defeating government funding of Planned Parenthood - Part 6: After the vote
We have reached Part 6 of our six-part series on how to defeat government funding of Planned Parenthood. To get updated on the previous five parts, please visit http://www.all.org/stopp/plan.htm#three.
After the vote
Use your newsletter to record the details of the public hearing and every voting session. Once the vote happens, let your people know how everything went. If you had a good turnout at the public hearing, describe in your newsletter how exciting it was. Let your people know they missed something by not being there. Make them want to come next year. Your newsletter is your way of letting your supporters know how you felt about the whole fight. They will be looking to you. If you are discouraged, they will be. If you are upbeat and excited, they will be that way too.
Once the vote happens, publish the voting record of the politicians. It is important for the politicians to know that their position on this issue will become public knowledge. Whenever there is a vote, you should publish how each person voted. In addition, before each vote, you should publish a list of how each person voted in all previous votes on the issue. If you do this on a regular basis, people will begin coming to you for information on whether or not politicians support your efforts. The politicians will also begin to understand that your supporters are voters who care.
Also use your newsletter to publicly thank all who helped. We are always quick to attack politicians who oppose us. We must be just as quick to thank politicians who vote the way we want. Use your newsletter to thank these people and encourage your supporters to write thank-you notes to them. Politicians will remember those who took the time to say thank you.
In the spotlight: Life Chain Link in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Here at American Life League, we applaud the pro-life activists around the country who work hard and truly make a difference in saving lives by educating our country on the truth about Planned Parenthood. One such group is Life Chain Link.
Life Chain Link is an organization of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This is one of many U.S. groups in our country that regularly protest outside of Planned Parenthood. As you visit its web site, you will discover a calendar showing that dedicated pro-lifers are outside of the PP facility every day. We were also delighted to hear that the bishop of this diocese has committed at least one day each month to actively protesting outside of the clinic.
We thank Life Chain Link, Bishop Paul Swain and Travis Benson for all the great work they are doing in the Diocese of Sioux Falls.
Life Chain Link's web site: http://www.sfcatholic.org/respectlife/lifechainlink.aspx
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Albion, Michigan Planned Parenthood gets few customers and will CLOSE!
Planned Parenthood in Albion can no longer afford to stay open due to a lack of customers and will be forced to close next month. Praise God!
According to a report in the Lansing State Journal, the PP center is located in a predominantly black and minority community. Planned Parenthood has been known to move into these types of neighborhoods and target African-American women. We have heard the numerous reports on PP's racist agenda, and in the case of Albion, targeting minority communities has worked against Planned Parenthood and its attempt to ruin people's lives. So it will be forced to close in August.
We have also seen Planned Parenthood move into suburban areas across the country as well as locations near high schools. Building and moving into clinics involves a lot of strategy on PP's part, and it is definitely worth celebrating that one more piece of the largest abortion chain has been broken. Planned Parenthood cannot expect to move into just any community and win the people over. We must continue to educate people on Planned Parenthood's ugly lies and continue working until its other facilities close nationwide.
ACTION ALERT: Pro-lifers claim victory!
As we were about to send out this week's STOPP Report, we learned that Planned Parenthood has been disinvited to "Vallejo Celebrates Youth," a children's health and wellness event in Vallejo, California to be held on August 2.
Thanks to you and your many phone calls and e-mails, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District has reversed its decision to allow Planned Parenthood to participate in this children's event at the Children's Wonderland playground in Vallejo.
Action works. Praise God!
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