This is why we call them Pro-abortion

If I said Olympia, or Salem, was Planned Parenthood occupied territory, would you think I was being overly dramatic?

If I said the "will of the people" was a nice idea but basically didn't exist, would you think I was overstating the situation?

If I said the abortion lobby was submitting legislation would you say I was exaggerating?

Think again.

74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session

Senate Bill 776

Sponsored by Senators DEVLIN, BROWN, Representative ROSENBAUM; Senators AVAKIAN, PROZANSKI, WALKER, Representatives BARKER, BONAMICI, KOTEK, NOLAN, TOMEI

(at the request of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon)

Looking at the Pharmacist Conscience Clause Issue in Context

Many people have bought into the mistaken idea that the dispute over the proposed pharmacist conscience clause and Plan B is a struggle between religion and women’s health care. In reality, it is something else entirely. All impartial observers of the conscience issue need to be aware of larger context in which it is moving: An overall strategy by the abortion industry to increase the number of health care workers performing abortion either voluntarily or through state or economic coercion.

One of the biggest problems facing the abortion industry right now is the lack of “providers.” Most doctors who spend a good deal of time, money and effort to finish medical school and complete a residency don’t want to be involved in a business that kills children. While the money might be there, the prestige, gratitude, and professionalism isn’t. After 35 years the abortion industry hasn’t been able to shake their “back-alley” image. Furthermore, doctors are burnt-out and many suffer from the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

The response of the abortion industry has been to first search for escape hatches and magic bullets, i.e. chemical abortion pills like RU-486, to help distance the physician from the trauma of abortion. In this scenario, the woman, rather than the physician, is the one usually left to confront the bloody parts of the dismembered fetus. Secondly, they’ve made serious efforts to recruit non-physicians to voluntarily participate in abortion while simultaneously working to pass laws and apply pressure that will compel others to participate.

That Seems a Little Extreme
You don’t have to take my word for it. Visit the web site of groups like The Abortion Access Project and you can see that they are already recruiting midwives, nurse practitioners, and physicians assistants for abortion training. Or as AAP explains on their web site:

New Abortion Provider Training Initiative (NAPTI) seeks to address the shortage of abortion providers and to expand the scope of practice of advanced practice and other primary care clinicians to include medical and surgical abortion.

Hospitals aren’t off the hook either. They are slated for a strategy of intimidation and pressure as the abortion industry attempts to shift abortion services away from the current archipelago of abortion dominated mills toward a “community-based” delivery system. In pharmacies, community or hospital health clinics, and small one- and two-nurse practices in strip-malls, the idea is that abortion could mix in seamlessly with flu shots, mid-wifery, and cold medications.

More Abortions over a Larger Group of Providers
This strategy benefits the industry by increasing access to abortion and diffusing abortion services over a larger number of providers, making it harder for pro-life activists to target any particular provider. It also seeks to address some of the isolation that abortion providers feel within the medical community as well as release the pressure that comes with doing abortions as a primary part of one’s practice. If “everybody’s doing it” there’s support and comfort for those who have a nagging conscience. Of course there will be financial incentives along with the honors and awards that generally fall to those who assist those in power.

But I thought only Doctors were Supposed to do Abortions
Tell it to the governor, or the health department or the sheriff. But don’t expect much of a response. Despite the state law only allowing physicians to perform abortions, Christine Gregoire as attorney general, ruled that Advanced Nurse Practitioners can administer RU-486 chemical abortions without physician supervision,

Attorney General Gregoire, in the 2004 ruling, declared that the “physicians-only” part of Initiative Measure No 120 was obsolete by stating,

[T]he state now recognizes a new category of health care professional with a scope of practice that overlaps in certain ways the “practice of medicine” that was once reserved to licensed physicians.

She also ruled that the “right to abortion” is preeminent and that the state is required by the statute to place the “least restrictions on a woman’s right to have an abortion”. Therefore, “freezing” (her word) the scope of practice of health care professions would make it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion and conflicts with the statute. Washington’s abortion law is obviously continually evolving.

Hey, I didn’t Vote for That
Well, maybe you did and maybe you didn’t. It all depends on who is doing the interpreting.
Here’s the language from Gregoire’s ruling:

We note, first of all, the opening language of RCW 9.02.110 itself that the “state may not deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or to protect her life or health.” The initiative opens with a statement of policy that “[e]very woman has the fundamental right to choose or refuse to have an abortion”. RCW 9.02.100(2). Furthermore, the initiative also contains language requiring that the state impose “the least restrictions on the woman’s right to have an abortion” of the available alternatives. RCW 9.02.140(3). It would be inconsistent with these statements of intent to read RCW 9.02.110 as
“freezing” the scope of practice of health care professionals in such a way as to make it more difficult for a woman to obtain an abortion in those circumstances where she is constitutionally and statutorily entitled to do so.

According to this logic, NOT allowing pharmacists or other health care workers to administer abortifacient drugs or perform abortions in any manner would be contrary to the statute.

Finally, we are told that when new laws conflict with old laws the new law prevails: “If there is an irreconcilable conflict between the new provision and the prior statutes, the new provision will control as it is the later expression of the legislature.”


They Can’t Force Me
Why not? If the “right to abortion” is preeminent and the state is required by the statute to place the “least restrictions on a woman’s right to have an abortion” then what reason could anyone possibly give for resisting participation. Employers who enjoy the revenue certainly won’t stand by such trouble makers. Any fall-back on conscience rights you think you might have is just about to be eviscerated by either the state Board of Pharmacy or legislature – both heavily influenced by the abortion industry.

It Couldn’t Happen Here
Advanced Nurse Practitioners can already administer RU-486 in our state, so it is happening. Here’s how it can continue to happen on a much grander scale.

Are pharmacists, because of Collaborative Practice Agreement legislation currently on the books in Washington and Attorney General Gregoire’s 2004 ruling that a “new category of health care provider with a scope of practice that overlaps in certain ways the ‘practice of medicine’…,” already empowered to administer RU-486? If pharmacists don’t have a right to conscience regarding Plan B how will they have a right to conscience for RU-486 or other abortion drugs?

Will physicians and health care workers be compelled to offer abortion as a matter of course whenever and wherever a woman seeks pregnancy related health care? A friend of mine reported that when she went to Group Health for a pregnancy test not too long ago they did just that. When her pregnancy test came back positive they handed her a list of abortion centers simply because she was pregnant. The medical establishment in the state as long viewed abortion as “health care” so such a move wouldn’t be radical for them in the least.

If hospitals in Washington (including Catholic hospitals) that are already compelled to administer Plan B to “rape” victims, and workers in the health care field do not currently have a right to conscience as has been argued by the state of Washington, then how can they expect an exemption from offering and performing abortions?

Clearly the going forward strategy on the part of the abortion lobby is to find ways within the existing laws (or through new legislation), and with the help of abortion-friendly attorneys general, to allow for all health care workers to practice both chemical and surgical abortion and to force others to do so under fear of losing their employment.

What about the Women?
It’s never been about the women. And it’s never been about health care. All it really takes is the right attorney general, an arrogant and misdirected legislature, and a public uncomfortable with and uninformed about abortion to twist the laws and institutions of Washington to the idea that anything that doesn’t serve the cause of abortion is against the law.

(This is the second in our series on the pharmacist conscience clause leading up to the March 29th Board of Pharmacy meeting.)

PI Editorial Board Insults and Intimidates Women

P.I. Editorial Board Doesn’t Speak for this Woman

After reading your editorial on Wednesday, March 21, Abortion: Insulting Women, as a post abortive woman and local speaker for Silent No More Awareness (SNMA), I was insulted by the P.I, editorial board. I regret my abortion in this state in 1971 when I was an 18 year old university student.

As a matter of fact, most women ask for all relevant information before making any decision, especially health care, with the exception of abortion and contraception. We blindly accept taking pills, patches, emergency contraception and abortion without asking much of anything in the way of current or long term medical affects to us and I have done it for several decades myself. It is insulting to suggest that women don’t need or want accurate medical information.

I wish I had had some of this “insulting unnecessary information” provided by an ultrasound, of my baby’s beating heart at 18 days after conception. Maybe I wouldn’t have believed it was only a blob of cells at 12 weeks after conception. Maybe I would have been told about the risks and side effects of abortion, so when I suffered a miscarriage, anorexia and clinical depression and other problems, I would have recognized them as the after affects of a past abortion and sought help. As for the pricey ultrasounds, there are crisis pregnancy centers that offer them by qualified, trained, and licensed medical personnel.

Of course, I suspect your argument isn’t so much about money, as it is about not wanting a woman to see the truth of a little human being (fetus, Latin for little one) in her womb and facing reality. I am here to tell you from personal painful experience that keeping a secret of shame for a past abortion for decades is much more traumatic than being shown what your child looks like in the womb.

Through speaking with SNMA, I and others tell people what abortion is really like and how we got swept up in the moment and made a quick uninformed decision and how to begin to heal from the experience. As for the lack of necessity for additional regulation, (“It's not like the state doesn't already have laws regulating abortions”), Washington State has no such restrictions because of a 1992 state law, which ensured a woman’s right to abortion, whether Roe v. Wade stands or falls. Washington has constitutional language interpreted by courts as protecting a woman’s right to end her pregnancy, throughout the entire pregnancy up to the moments before birth.

In 1970, four states -- Alaska, Hawaii, New York and Washington -- adopted the most liberal laws in the country, allowing a woman to have an abortion whenever she and her doctor decided it was needed, including mine in 1971 and I never actually talked to a doctor, unless you want to count the abortionist, while performing the procedure, telling me that it was too late to change my mind. Your editorial appeared to me as a veiled attempt at intimidation and deception to suggest to women that somehow what is being considered in other states would have an effect on the women of Washington.

An informed woman is an empowered woman, so women should study up on what our state actually allows. Let’s give women access to necessary medically accurate information, including ultrasounds and what happens during an abortion procedure and the risks involved and then the time to absorb it, so that she truly can make an informed, unrushed decision.

Most young women especially, make an abortion decision out of lack of information, lack of emotional and financial support from the man involved, parental pressure, abortion clinic pressure to get it done as soon as possible or lack of confidence in themselves and their perceived inability to take care of a baby. To limit any information and to keep women vulnerable to intimidation by others, including this editorial board, under the guise of concern for women is well, just insulting.
Deborah Schneider
Shoreline

Cemetary of the Innocents

For Immediate Release, 03/24/07
Contact Joe Fuiten
425-770-5220

CEDAR PARK CHURCH ERECTS "CEMETERY OF THE INNOCENTS"
Asking Community to Protect the Defenseless Unborn and

Stand Against Abortion

Thousands of white crosses were erected Saturday, on the grounds of Cedar Park Church and Cedar Park Christian School in Bothell, in memory of the estimated 3,700 babies that are aborted each day in America. (High resolution photo available upon request to danillet@gmail.com.)

BOTHELL, WA - Thousands of white crosses stretch across fields where just days before youth could be seen playing sports. Christians and pro-life supporters are using the Christian observance of the Annunciation to speak out against the 34-year status quo of legalized abortion that has resulted in the killing of an estimated 3,700 babies every day in America. Saddened by the disposal of precious life and empowered by the belief that humans are created in the image of God, Christians from across the Pacific Northwest are coming together to stand against abortion and promote life.

"Our message to the community is that every life is precious and should be protected," said Dr. Joseph Fuiten, Pastor of Cedar Park Church. "We teach that life begins at conception, not just at birth. We also know that many in our own church and community have had abortions. For those suffering from the effects of abortion, we want to show them that there is forgiveness, hope and healing through Jesus Christ."

In Christianity, "Annunciation" is the celebration of Gabriel's announcement to the Virgin Mary of the conception of Jesus, nine months before Christmas, on March 25. The teaching of Christianity is that Jesus was Jesus from the moment of conception, not just the moment of birth.

Crosses were erected Saturday on the grounds of Cedar Park Church and Cedar Park Christian School in Bothell. Altogether, the display covers about three acres. The crosses will remain up until Monday.

Along with the cross memorial, the church has printed 20,000 copies of "Annunciation: What the natal life of Jesus teaches us about life." A number of churches in the community are distributing the booklets in their services on March 25.
Annunciation Sunday booklets are available for download at www.cedarpark.org/days/annunciation/ or www.positivechristianagenda.org. Supplemental Sunday School lesson plans also available at www.positivechristianagenda.org.

Seattle PI Promotes Ignorance for Women

Uhg. I'm so disgusted with this so-called "newspaper." Once again the PI shows its hatred of science, women and the human body.

Keeping women in the dark about their bodies is the height of patronizing and is incredibly insulting. For whatever reason the PI is clearly more interested in keeping the truth about abortion from women than they are in helping women.

Pro-Choice Washington: Now is Your Chance to Speak Out Against Unsafe Abortion

State health officials found forceps encrusted in "brownish blood-like residues," rusty crochet hooks used to remove IUDs, and a quarter-inch of dark red "dirt and debris" under an exam table at an Englewood abortion clinic, according to records released Tuesday.

ProLife Blogs has the full story and links to the New Jersey Record.
Susan Paynter, Nicole Brodeur and Nina Shapiro where are you when we need you?

The Godfather of Plan B

Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. - Benito Mussolini

For those who don't know, Don Downing has been the go-to-guy on Plan B, or "grandfather of Plan B" as they affectionately call him in the abortion industry. Around here we like to call him the Godfather of Plan B. He's the person primarily responsible for setting up the "prescriptive authority agreements" here in Washington and around the country allowing anyone, anywhere, anytime, access to Plan B. (Backgrounder information on the prescriptive authority agreements and history of Plan B in Washington State can be found here.)

Mr. Downing is also the author of, Emergency Contraception: The Pharmacist's Role and, his personal pean to contraceptives and Plan B, Pharmacist Prescribing of Emergency Contraception: The Washington State Experience, both published by the American Pharmaceutical Association.

He's also one of the major players in what has become an all too common effort to use the power of the state to stifle dissent, usurp the U.S. and Washington constitutions, and potentially put people out of work who think there are more important things in life than helping the abortion industry gain yet another toe-hold in American life. All of this in an effort to further the interests of a financially powerful industry. In fairness to Mr. Downing, the politicians, at least here in Washington state, have either given silent approval, given verbal approval (Luke Esser (R)), or given enthusiastic verbal approval (Karen Kaiser (D), Fred Jarret (R), Geoff Simpson (D)).

Both the documents linked to above tipped us off to his deep ties to the abortion, population control, and pharmaceutical industries. Yes, of course, "women's health" and "preventing abortion" were used to sell, or "socially market" the idea of Plan B to the state pharmacy association, the media, professional elites, and politicians. In a touch of class, pharmacists who agreed to distribute Plan B were featured in newsletters. (See this excellent document on social marketing as it specifically pertains to Plan B.)

But we know a racket when we see one.

We really started to question Mr. Downing and the incestuous relationship between him, Barr Laboratories (manufacturer of Plan B), Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (investor, developer, and now marketer/seller of Plan B) and state boards of pharmacy when we noticed he could be found anywhere Plan B or Barr Laboratories was found. He sure seemed to have a lot of time to fly around the country. And who was paying for all those trips to Maine and Illinois anyway? Then we found out he had his own company to promote pharmacist prescribed medications.

According to this document,

Mr. Downing facilitates the implementation of patient care services provided by pharmacists in Washington State. This effort primarily involves the active integration of pharmacists into the health care team in areas of disease management and illness prevention. These efforts are performed in the public sector through the University of Washington’s School of Pharmacy and in the private sector as director of the wellness and disease management company known as PEAK Solutions, LLC.

We knew we were on to something when we further discovered that part of Barr Labs' distribution and marketing plan included, "‘leveraging’ of State Boards of Pharmacy" and that Don Downing was traveling the country to, well, what could only be described as, 'leverage' state boards of pharmacy.

Here's a sampling of just the Google cached travels of Don Downing to various conferences and boards of pharmacy; sponsored by you-know-who.

Don in Illinois in May 2006
Along with friends: Brigid Leahy, IL. Planned Parenthood
Melissa Masenbacker, Barr Labs

Don Downing in Maine
Pharmacist Training Program: Emergency Contraception In Maine
Don Downing, R.Ph. / Continuing Education: 3 CEs
Sponsor: Barr Laboratories

Don in New Mexico
Don Downing, PharmD, from Washington State and Diana Koster, MD, conducted a train-the-trainer program in December 2003. The pharmacists certified in this program are leading additional training programs in 2004, in more rural and remote areas across New Mexico. These trainings were made possible through a grant from Barr Laboratories.

Don in Oregon (This link is broken at the moment)
“Pharmacy-Based Emergency Contraception: An Action Agenda for Pharmacists”
This Program has Been Made Possible in Part by: Barr Laboratories, Inc.

When he goes to these events I don't see any mention of Peak Solutions. I only see his UW and pharmacy credentials. Is there something wrong with a university professor using his position at a public institution to lobby for a private company in order to enrich his own bank account at the expense of public health? Maybe the UW is paying for these trips, which doesn't improve the situation. Perhaps he travels long hours and attends boring BOP meetings without taking a dime for himself, which is only a slight improvement. Wherever the money trail ultimately leads, we still have a huge array of forces lined up against the conscience rights of pharmacists, the health of Washington's women, and the children who will be potentially aborted with this drug.

Maybe after this whole Plan B thing is over I imagine Merck might be looking for someone who knows a thing or two about leverage.

(Ed. note: This is the first in a series of articles covering the pharmacists conscience clause leading up to the Board of Pharmacy's March 29th meeting.)

Resist. Resist. Resist.

Michelle at Life of the Party has a post on Why Pro-Lifers Should Never Trust a Republican Who Dodges the Abortion Question.

She make four excellent observations about the GOP, that pertain especially to the Washington state GOP:

1. There is a persistent effort by Republicans for Choice and their coalition of friends to make the party impotent on fighting abortion and other attacks on life.
2. Pro-abortion Republican politicians rely on the votes of pro-lifers to get elected, and they don't want you to know their position on life issues.
3. Just because the Democrats attack a Republican for being "anti-choice" doesn't mean he's pro-life.
4. RFC desperately wants pro-choice Republicans to win, to prove their point, that the party needs to drop abortion as an issue.

Below are some of the catch phrases and verbal slights of hands you will continue to hear from GOP politicians who, as Michelle describes in her post, are attempting to garner pro-life votes, will quietly signaling to pro-choice voters that when it comes to abortion it will be business as usual.

"I'm a moderate on abortion." Can you be "moderate" on the Holocaust? Can you be a "moderate" on slavery? Please.

"I'll appoint strict constructionist judges." Right. And I'll always pick the winning lottery numbers. Besides, the Supreme Court is not the be all and end all to abortion and pro-life legislation.

"Roe v. Wade should be overturned." This phrase is music to pro-lifers' ears. However, it's an empty sentiment that is usually followed by a very convincing impersonation of many politicians favorite Bible character. Capitulating, washing hands of the problem, and blaming others, like say the Supreme Court, can be expected of anyone who uses this phrase.

"I don't like labels." Tough.

How to tell where a candidate really stands on abortion? Here's the acid test: Embryonic Stem Cell Research.

If your candidate supports ESCR, or is receiving funding from the biotech industry, he or she isn't pro-life. Any politician who supports ESCR is basically saying they think it is acceptable to breed human beings for medical experimentation and death. Remember, the abortion issue isn't so much about abortion as it is about the right to life for every single human being. It's about how one views the human person and the proper role of the government in the lives of its citizens.

Any candidate who says they are against abortion but in favor of ESCR is either stupid or thinks you are. Don't fall for it.

New Study Finds Abortion-Child Abuse Link

The idea that child abuse inside the womb would lessen the incidence of child abuse outside the womb was a lie from the beginning. The public went along with it, often with a sincere belief that it was true or a naive belief that it would be true if only we gave abortion a chance to work it's magic.

The Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology has a new study, however, that shows how the chickens have now come home to roost.

According to LifeSite News --

The findings were drawn from an analysis of data on 237 low-income women in Baltimore who had physically mistreated or neglected at least one of their children or allowed someone else to do so. Researchers controlled for a history of miscarriage or stillbirth, as well as for family history, aggression by the woman's partner and other key factors. While all the women in the study had some connection with child maltreatment or neglect, the authors found that those who reported a history of abortion reported significantly more frequent acts of physical violence, such as slapping, hitting or beating, directed at their children.

In Washington state, this report from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy shows that since 1970, the year Washington legalized abortion, child abuse has increased from a 5-year pre-legalization average of 4.7 rate per 1,000 children to a 5-year average 32.3 rate per 1,000 in 1995.

I think it is fair to conclude that whatever the causes of child abuse in the state, it has NOT gotten better since legalized abortion.

Silent No More Awareness Campaign and Norma McCorvey Join Forces to Fight Abortion

It's been a great couple of months for the pro-life movement and we aren't even a third of the way through 2007.

First, thanks to the generous donations of many people around the state and one from New York the Silent No More Awareness Campaign was able to run this quarter page ad in the Tacoma News Tribune on January 22, 2007.

Second, the 40 Days for Life Campaign is going strong and steady. Planned Parenthood and the Kitsap Sun continue to fantasize about a "spur in giving" to Planned Parenthood due to their "pledge-a-picketer" program. However, that same campaign marked the beginning of the end for Seattle's Aradia abortion mill earlier this year when they tried it to combat the presence of the Helpers of God's Precious Infants.

I don't think a message focused on greed really resonates with the public. Here's a line from Marcy Bloom, former executive director of Aradia, a full four years before their near bankruptcy:

I truly wish we had more money.

Many quotes and proverbs relating the money come to mind -- Money is the root of all evil, for instance. None of them bode too well for those who put trust in the almighty dollar as their lord and savior. Most apropos of the abortion industry? --Men are apt to prefer a prosperous error to an afflicted truth.

Finally, over the weekend, the Knights of Columbus in Kennewick sponsored the 3rd annual It's About Life Conference. It was a smashing success and it had nothing to do with money.

Dot Redmann of Silent No More Awareness Campaign was featured in much of the press coverage. Both her and Norma McCorvey, "Roe" of Roe v. Wade, shared a table during the conference. I bought a copy of Norma's book Won by Love, which she graciously signed for me. I highly recommend it.

KPER TV (Great video. Interview with Dot and SNMA "I Regret My Abortion" signs.)
KVEW TV, ABC affiliate. (Be sure to watch the video in addition to the story.)
KNDO TV, NBC affiliate. (Be sure to watch the video in addition to the story.)
KPER TV (Interview with Norma McCorvey outside Kennewick Planned Parenthood.)

Planned Parenthood Goes on the Defense

Planned Parenthood is not the bad guy. We have been doing everything we can to absorb these costs and remedy the situation as long as we could.

Touchy. Touchy. It seems as though Christine Charbonneau, president/CEO of Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, is getting some scrutiny after pulling out of Cowlitz County. (She makes $226,000 a year and is the sixth highest paid CEO of a non-profit in the Seattle area.)

At least she doesn't mention the "Take Charge" program and the cuts that didn't happen.

Let's review what we know about Planned Parenthood lest anyone think this noble non-profit is limping along to make ends meet in a valiant effort to treat STDs.

Planned Parenthood of Western Washington is rich. We've covered their local accounting here.

In 2002 Planned Parenthood of Western Washington was listed as the fourth richest Planned Parenthood in the entire nation.

Please keep in mind, there is no designated state or federal funding for testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

Planned Parenthood doesn't need state or federal money to provide STD testing and treatment services. Places like Carenet and Life Choices and other non-profits struggle everyday to help teens and others with unplanned pregnancies and STDs at no charge and with no government money. On top of it all these places are ususally hounded, put down, and disparaged by Planned Parenthood, the state of Washington, and the powers that be.

...Title X, our nation's source of federal family planning funding, has not gotten a raise in over 25 years.

But Planned Parenthood has gotten a raise. Between 1987 and 2003 their funding increased every year.

Coming next...How Planned Parenthood is responsible for the rise in STDs.

Picking an Abortionist: How will your daughter know?

"Safe, legal and rare" has become so cliche that no one bothers to stop and ask whether that abortionist listed in the Yellow Pages or on the internet can even complete the job without seriously damaging a woman's heath. It's legal so it must be safe, right?

Tell that to these teens killed by abortion.

Tell that to Christin Gilbert who was killed during a legal abortion in 2005.

Tell that to the citizens of New Jersey where last week state health officials shut down one of New Jersey's largest abortion centers after finding violations at an Englewood clinic that posed "immediate and serious risk of harm to patients."

Or maybe your local abortionist is just a pervert.

Take, for example this public complaint (link to .pdf file) against Tacoma abortionist Dr. Attig. Would you want your daughter or friend or relative going to this man for medical care? A pregnant teen who is scared, isolated and in a panic is not going to be in a state of mind to start researching the background of potential abortion doctors. Wouldn't parental notification help teens get quality abortion care and avoid people like Dr. Attig?

The state of Washington Department of Health and the abortion lobby aren't going to help her. They might even be the ones telling her that abortion is one of her "options". The Washington Deptartment of Health revoked, then reinstated the license for Dr. Attig in October of 2006.

The media? Don't even get me started. Women could be bleeding on the streets of Seattle and we'd still get Nicole Brodeur of the Seattle Times reminding us that the "right to choose" is as necessary as "oxygen."

The abortion lobby is no help. They care more about the financial health of the abortion industry and their paychecks than they do about women's health. If Dr. Attig is out of business he can't very well make political contributions to NARAL.

Dr. Attig is by no means the only abortionist to have such charges filed against him in Washington. Sadly it is more often the case that when harm does come to a woman she is too scared and ashamed to tell anyone and the crime goes unreported. This problem is compounded even more among those populations -- immigrant, minority, non-English speaking, minors, those in poverty -- who feel alienated from society and unable to access the legal system.

Furthermore, where are all the good people of our state who claim to be pro-choice but not pro-abortion? It is time for all those who truly care about women and their health to join together in this state to bring it out of the back alley and into the light by enacting more oversight of our state's abortion industry. It is time to start warning women and our teens of the risks of abortion to their health, not coddling the abortion industry. It is time to get the caring professions and state agencies who are charged with overseeing the health of Washingtonians to do their job. If they won't do it at least give parents the power to help and protect their children from the harm of abortion.

Washington's "Take Charge" Program to Receive Funding until 2010

It was recently reported here, here, and here that the Planned Parenthood clinic in Longview, Washington was forced to closed.

The curious thing in all the news reports was the reason given for the closing of the clinic. Jennifer Allen, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, told the Associated Press:

"The closure was necessary after federal officials cut family planning services for 7,800 people in the "Take Charge" program."

The main problem with this story line is that the "Take Charge" program hasn't been cut. It's been extented to 2010. According to a spokesman with the Departement of Health it was renewed after negotiations between state and federal officials.

Newly elected Cowlitz County Commissioner Axel Swanson (D) didn't waste anytime lamenting the closure of Planned Parenthood. He told The Daily News, "We're struggling with STDs right now. That's just a flat-out fact."

STDs?

You see, the other problem with the story is that the Take Charge program is indented to "reduce the number of unintended pregnancies in low income populations and the associated costs of maternity and child care by providing comprehensive family planning educational and medical services" i.e. distribution of oral contraceptives, contraceptive shots, patches and Plan B ("morning after pill"). It is not intended for the treatment of STDs.

"It leaves a big question mark in my mind why they would choose to leave Cowlitz County" Mr. Swanson said. Apprently Mr. Swanson is suffering under the illusion that the folks at Planned Parenthood were treating sick people when in fact they were only putting poor folks on birth control pills.

This is as good a time as any to pause and reflect on the deflowering of yet another young politician by Planned Parenthood. According to The Daily News, Mr. Swanson (D) is asking "U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to look into the matter." Well, that ought to be a real interesting conversation.

Back outside the rabbit hole, however, reality reigns. We took note of Jerry Ross's letter printed in The Reflector, which gave some very good illustrations of how Cowlitz County was taking a significant risk by renting space to Planned Parenthood at sweetheart rates (at $400 a month).

• Is it legal for the county to lease space to private health providers in one of their buidlings?
• If it is legal, are they required to open the contract up to other providers on a bid basis?
• The rent Planned Parenthood was paying for their Longview clinic space was approximately $14/foot -- way under market rates for the town.
• The sidewalk outside the clinic is in need of repair and could open the county up to a lawsuit should anyone slip and fall.
• The county also opened themselves up to liability in the event minors were being brought to the clinic for abortions or referrals by their adult "boyfriends" (a.k.a. statutory rape) and the county is sued for harboring a criminal.

A friendly bit of advice to the Cowlitz County Commissioners: When you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.

Chocolate to Kill For

It's another March and time for Washington's abortion lobby to put on the top hat and cane for 2007's "Chocolates for Choice" event. And another opportunity to try and sugar coat the ugliness of abortion.

The list of judges and other Seattle "celebrities" looks absolutely boring. The usual suspects -- Greg Nickels, Darcy Burner, Ron Sims -- will be in attendance. David “Goldy” Goldstein of some pro-abortion blog will be a judge. I wonder if the boys at Sound Politics are sad they weren't invited to "rub elbows" with the "celebrity judges" at this evening of mirth and laughter over the killing of unborn children.

Proving there's no accounting for taste Tony Ventrella, former Seattle area sportscaster and now motivational speaker for Positive Energy Productions, will also be in attendance. Here's one of Tony's 7 Keys to Happiness:

Acts of kindness change the lives of the giver, the receiver and the observer.

In the context of the Chocolates for Choice event Tony might want to adjust his empty little phrase to something more appropriate and meaningful for his cohorts at NARAL to something like this: Acts of violence change the lives of the Perpetrator, the Victim, and the Observer, aka the "Tragic Triangle" of abortion. The abortionist, in collusion with the parent(s), is the perpetrator, the child is the victim, and the observers are all the rest of us. I wonder where Tony sees himself fitting into this triangle.

Remind me not to eat at the Herbfarm or Salty's on Alki. And there really is a sponsor of this event called "Chocolate 2 Die 4".

Please see the list of sponsors and donors so you know where NOT to shop.