In the past months, a series of some nine videos have surfaced, indicating that Planned Parenthood has been involved in harvesting and selling baby body parts.
Since then, there have been angry and outraged demonstrations, marches and multiple petition, calling for the following:
Congress must defund Planned Parenthood immediately!
Congress must promptly dry up all taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood!
Investigated Planned Parenthood!
Prosecute Planned Parenthood!
Shut down the government until Congress takes action on Planned Parenthood!
The outrage is understandable. But something is missing from all these calls to declare all-out war on Planned Parenthood.
Today as I write, a tenth video has surfaced. The calls are getting louder and louder to simply dry up all taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. According to the advocates of this drastic action, ending all taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood would protect the unborn because a source of funding would be dried up and it would dis-empower them. But would defunding this institution protect the unborn?
Let me answer this question with a question. Why do most girls and women seek abortions?
According to both experience and much research, most girls and women so often look to abortion as their only option because they are not ready to parent their own babies. They find the idea of "giving up" their babies for adoption horrific. Often many turn to abortion because they are terrified that their families will find out and they will be rejected or ostracized. Then many turn to abortion for economic reasons, because they feel that they "cannot afford" to raise this child. Yet they cannot cope with the idea of "giving up" that child for adoption, knowing he or she will be out there but is being raised by strangers. And, we have become such an abortion-accepting culture that abortion has come to be seen as girl's and women's healthcare! But is it?
I don't know what actual percentage abortion comprises in Planned Parenthood's services. According to sources, they do about an estimated 330,330 abortions yearly. As followers of Jesus, we see each abortion as the taking of a human unborn life. This means that Planned Parenthood is responsible for the loss of about 330,000 lives a year. It is true that federal funds may not directly go to abortions, but should taxpayer dollars go to an institution which oversees 330,000 murders a year and profits from them?
That is where all the calls to defund Planned Parenthood come in. But will that alone stop abortion and protect the unborn?
I admit, when I hear all the calls to defund Planned Parenthood and even how much money that will save the US, I wonder, "Where does this leave all the people who truly feel that Planned Parenthood is their only option because they cannot afford private OB/GYNS (who typically do not accept Medicaid). Also, so many truly feel that abortion is their only option in times of crisis. Doctors tend to too readily counsel women to abort for eugenic or therapeutic reasons. Yes, too many families and friends of girls and women pressure them to get abortions and these girls and women, desiring to please, comply. Sadly, I know of people who have turned to abortion because of family pressure. How will simple drying up of taxpayer $$$ end these scenarios born out of fear, ignorance and desperation?
I could not understand why no one, of all these people who are demanding that Congress simply defund Planned Parenthood, are not calling for those taxpayer dollars to be re-allocated to other, life-affirming services for girls and women. So I created a petition for this purpose. It calls for the increase of Medicaid reimbursements to OB/GYNS so they will have incentives to care for low-income girls and women. The petition also calls for an increase in subsidies to qualified adoptive parents. It also calls for funding for community clinics where abortions are not done and for funds for single mothers so they can spend more time with their children. The petition also calls for Congress to pass legislation that will create the option of temporary foster care for girls and women in crisis pregnancies so another, life-affirming option will be open to them.
Are these perfect solutions? No, of course not. They are steps in the right direction, in my humble opinion.
For Congress to listen to us, a "critical mass" of signatures (around 100,000) are needed. If you agree that this petition is important, I hope that you will not be one of those followers of Jesus who believe that we should "stay out" of so-called poltical or controversial issues. This is not about politics or issues. This is about the lives and futures of babies and their mothers.
Will you both SIGN and SHARE the petition? Go to the petition here. Thank you!
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