Shocking New Report from Seattle's Largest Abortion Chain

In a stunning new annual report, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) reveals that it saw a significant drop in customers in 2007 … with one major exception.

The total number of “medical visits” fell 15%, from 150,000 in 2006, to 127,000 in 2007.

The number of emergency contraception sales – a significant source of largely illegal revenue – fell 13%. Government records show a $1m drop in revenue from Medicaid billings for emergency contraception.

And their number of Take Charge patient exams actually fell 25%, from just under 70,000 to just over 50,000. The Take Charge program has been the major factor behind PPWW’s doubling in size and revenue under the Bush Administration. Again, state Medicaid records show a $1.5m drop in reimbursements for oral contraception. Their extraordinary – and again largely illegal – profits from reselling all forms of contraception at a 3 to 4 times purchase price even fell, from $9.6 million to $7 million.

Even more dramatically, the number of “Pregnancy Visits” fell a startling 50%, from just under 32,000 to just over 16,000.

Their number of “Tests and treatments for Sexually Transmitted Infections” also fell 50%.

With this drop in clients and revenue line items, you would expect their program revenue to have taken a hit from the 2006 level of $22.5 million.

And you would expect the number of abortions to have declined also, right?

But you would be wrong on both counts. Very, very wrong.

Program revenue stayed pretty much flat. How did they do that? Well, we don’t know for sure. But we have a partial explanation.

The only number that didn’t go down was the number of abortions performed. In fact, that number jumped a shocking 16% from 2006 to 2007, to a record 9,059.

It seems that regardless which direction all the other numbers move, one thing that is constant with PPWW is that their number of abortions goes up.

We have noted on this blog that their number of abortions has been rising at 11% per year despite all their claims that “no-one does more to reduce the need for abortion” than Planned Parenthood, and their repeated promise that distributing emergency contraception was going to result in hundreds of thousands of fewer abortions across the country.

But now they are actually killing 50% more babies than they were just 3 years ago!

How Do They Do More Abortions With Fewer Clients?

We have asked PPWW about these stunning figures, but they have refused to comment, so we are left to speculate.

The most obvious question is: how are they doing 16% more abortions with 50% less “Pregnancy Visits”? Now almost 60% of all pregnancy visits end in abortion. Three years previously, just 18% of pregnancy visits ended in abortion.

Our best guess is as follows: historically abortion clinics like PP have women come in when they are pregnant for a pregnancy test and a counseling session. That counts as 1 visit. Then they would schedule an abortion, previously all surgical. That’s a second visit. Then some of those women would come in for a followup. Third visit.

The new PP “protocol” seems to be to do the counseling session on the first phone call. This includes the abortion sell. At the end of that phone call the abortion is scheduled for the first visit. No pregnancy test. No ultrasound viewing of their baby. No viewing of fetal models. No reflection period. We suspect these conversations include subtle pressure about how if they “wait too long” they will no longer be eligible for a chemical abortion, which is “more natural”, “more like a miscarriage”.

Probably most of these abortions are now chemical. The 2006 annual report noted that 33% of their abortions were now chemical. The new report (2007) made no mention of the new figure.

We don’t know if the women are pressured to take the first abortion pill at the clinic to avoid the “risk” of the women changing their mind if they take it home to take. But we do know that many women don’t return for the followup visit.

This would perfectly explain the new numbers.

Interestingly, the annual report is long on whining and complaining about government cutbacks and forced employee layoffs. But there is no attempt to explain any of these astonishing trends in their abortion rate, or how they managed to keep their program revenue almost flat despite the loss of non-abortion clients.

And there was absolutely no attempt to explain why their abortion business keeps growing faster than the federal debt despite all their supposed efforts to proliferate contraception, emergency or otherwise.

Washington's Family Planning Experiment Sees Increased Abortion, Medicaid Costs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mary Emanuel
November 18, 2008
seattlecampaign@yahoo.com

Ending Family Planning Programs Would Cut Costs, Decrease Abortion

Seattle, Washington -- An analysis of Washington state’s Take Charge pilot program reveals an increase in both abortion and tax dollars spent on abortion and childbirth services. The investigation by the independent web site Abortion in Washington shows the number of abortions performed by the program's leading partner, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, (PPWW) has been increasing 11% per year. Additionally, the intended cost-savings are not being realized.

Take Charge is a Medicaid section 1115 Waiver program initiated in 2001 to provide free contraceptives to low-income women not already covered under Medicaid. It was originally funded for 5 years in 2001, then extended for 3 more years, and comes up for renewal in 2009.

“The state is facing serious financial challenges. The last thing we need are government programs that do more harm than good and are actually failing to deliver the promised benefits”, said Mary Emanuel, assistant publisher of Abortion in Washington.

When the program began, the state was paying out $200 million a year for childbirth services under Medicaid. That figure has shot up 50%, to $300 million under the program. The state of Washington is now at a point where almost half of all births in the state are paid for by Medicaid.

“Taxpayers are supposed to be saving money and there are supposed to be fewer abortions but with this program we are seeing the exact opposite,” added Emanuel. “With the tight budgets King County and the state government are facing, ending family planning programs like Take Charge at Community Health Centers would be a win-win for everybody.”

The contraceptives are distributed through Planned Parenthood offices as well as Community Health Clinics on the theory that with more women using contraceptives the number of unwanted pregnancies will decline, thus leading to a decline in the number of high cost Medicaid-paid births. As the data shows, this has not been the outcome.

"Given the budget crisis facing government at all levels, ending this taxpayer largesse to Planned Parenthood is long overdue," said Dan Kennedy CEO of Human Life of Washington.

It seems that the only one benefitting from Take Charge in Washington is PPWW, which has seen their annual revenues skyrocket from about $17 million to near $35 million. (Download a .pdf of PPWW's 2006 IRS 990 form here.) A spokesman for PPWW admitted earlier this year that it had indeed used the profits from the Take Charge business to open up new abortion clinics. Planned Parenthood’s own annual report reveals that fully 70% of their 150,000 client visits were funded by Take Charge. The state is then left to cover the cost of an abortion or a Medicaid birth. Planned Parenthood is under investigation nationwide for Medicaid fraud in the illegal profiteering from contraceptive sales.

###

For more information contact: Mary Emanuel, Abortion in Washington, http://abortionstate.blogspot.com/

Abortion Industry Hooks-up with Euthanasia Movement to Deny Pharmacists Right to Conscience

On November 14th, the Governor Christine Gregoire's office produced an email that is addressed to Planned Parenthood of Western Washington from Christina Hulet, the Governor's Aide. It says…

Amy,
The Governor received a letter of strong support from Robb Miller, Executive Director of Compassion and Choices of WA, regarding the pharmacy board issue.

We're following up with a letter from the Gov, but wanted to also pass on the name to you in case their organization isn't part of the coalition. His contact number is 206-256-1636.
Christina

Saying "I told you so" just doesn't cover the sum of my feelings on this topic.

It's interesting that the supporters of assisted suicide claim they believe in allowing providers to opt out (as stated in the initiative's exemption), but they have also urged the Governor to force pharmacists to fill all prescriptions. I'll bet the long term plan is to get rid of the opt-out.

We are looking forward to reading the promised follow-up letter from the Governor. Perhaps someone can send all the correspondence to Archbishop Burnett since he still believes Gregoire to be a supporter of the Catholic Church's teachings on life. Maybe an email and a letter from Governor Gregoire showing her pimping for the Euthansia-Abortion-Contraception movement will get his attention.

Resist Assisted Suicide

Now that we have both legalized abortion and euthanasia, thanks to I-1000, in Washington, killing young, old, sick and disabled people is now the height of "freedom". Surely this can't last.

Vote in this online poll to register your displeasure with I-1000.

You can also Take the Pledge against euthanasia and register your resistence here.

HHS Finally Responds to our Charges that Take Charge program is just Planned Parenthood Boondoggle

Readers of this blog know that we have called repeated attention to the state program known as Take Charge. This program is the single greatest reason that Planned Parenthood (PP) has doubled its revenues, profits, clients, and clinics in Washington State in the last eight years. And as such, it is the greatest single contributor to PP's 11%-a-year increase in abortions.

The program is easy to understand: it simply increases the number of people eligible for free (aka Medicaid-funded) birth control. The idea is that by getting more women on birth control, the number of unwanted pregnancies will decline, and then the number of Medicaid-paid births -- which are very expensive -- should go down. Taxpayers are supposed to save money, and there are supposed to be fewer abortions.

The program is an experiment, originally funded for 5 years in 2001, then extended for 3 more years, and comes up for renewal in 2009. It's part of a set of similar experiments governments do to see if Medicaid costs can be reduced. The Washington State program has occurred entirely under the Bush Administration, and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) has seen their annual revenues skyrocket from about $17 million to near $35 million, despite the group's simultaneously monotonous yet shrill declarations of George W. Bush's "war on women".

Planned Parenthood jumped at the opportunity to be the primary agency for delivering this birth control, and has been reaping millions of dollars in extra revenues from the approximately 150,000 Take Charge clients in Western Washington alone.

Half of all WA Births Paid for by Medicaid, since Take Charge began

Unfortunately, in addition to making PP fantastically wealthy, it also seems to have had the opposite results of what was intended. When the program began, the state was paying out $200 million a year for childbirth services under Medicaid. That figure has shot up 50%, to $300 million. The goal was to reduce that number. Put another way, the percentage of births paid for by Medicaid in Washington before the program was just over 40%. Now it is almost 50%.

We have contacted state and federal bureaucrats responsible for this program to confront them with the numbers showing its failure and terrible side-effects. After months of phone calls and emails, we were lead to Dr. Herb Kuhn (pictured right), Acting Director of the Center for Medicaid Studies, in Washington DC, in the Bush Administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Michael Levitt.

Back in the Spring we sent Dr. Kuhn a detailed report, including graphs, outlining all the numbers in detail. Only after several reminders was a response received, a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, that response was extremely disappointing, and indicates once again a failure by the bureaucracy to show any concern as to the actual effects of their policies, not to mention a lack of concern for their stewardship of taxpayers’ money.

Acknowledges Concerns of PP Medicaid Fraud

Most of the letter was "boilerplate" repetition of known policy and accepted facts.

We will continue to press this issue aggressively and make the proper authorities defend this failed program. It's our view that the only reason this program is able to continue is because of the fact that the public has no idea about it, and also because of the blind faith in contraception, a view which has made serious inroads into the Evangelical community, alas.

The one encouraging element of the letter was where Dr. Kuhn acknowledged that Planned Parenthood is under a federal Medicare fraud investigation for ripping off taxpayers with the 340B drug discount program. PP Affiliates of California is also being sued for defrauding taxpayers of $180 million over several years. We argued that an organization under such a serious cloud should be suspended from participation in a program which specifically revolves around distribution of birth control under Medicaid until it has been cleared of any wrongdoing. Shockingly, while admitting they were watching the case very closely, Dr. Kuhn refused to take that step.

Four Simple Questions The Government Owes Us Answers On

To summarize, here are a few of the basic questions we demand answers to:

1) It is clear that the Take Charge program has massively enriched Planned Parenthood in this state. PP of Western Washington makes no bones about this. It also has admitted that it has used these profits to aggressively expaned its abortion business, which has result in 11% more abortions each year. In short, Take Charge is increasing the abortion rate. That is completely unacceptable. Will HHS acknowledge this fact and state for the record whether it considers that an acceptable side-effect of the program?

2) The program is clearly not reducing the overall amount of money being spent by Medicaid on birth. It is up 50%, or $100 million since the program began. This is the program's stated goal, yet it is failing. How long will this program be allowed to continue while having the opposite results of what was intended?

3) Federal law requires that this program be revenue neutral: the money spent on all this "free" birth control must be offset by the savings in births avoided. Yet nowhere has anyone involved in this program demonstrated with hard numbers that the program is revenue neutral. The Final Report which led to the program extension didn't even include any claimed figures as to overall costs to taxpayers, and only intimated at cost savings. What are the alleged cost and savings figures for this program as required by law?

4) Nowhere has anyone explained what safeguards are in place to ensure that abortion isn't used by Take Charge clients to reduce the total number of "Medicaid births". Until demonstrated otherwise, we take it to be true as an observed fact that Take Charge clients who get their birth control from Planned Parenthood and subsequently become pregnant (and 10% of women on the pill will become pregnant in a year, according to the CDC) turn to Planned Parenthood for an abortion. All facilitated by our tax dollars and our federal and state governments.

Winning is Easy

It's writing a blog that's hard.

Or so it would seem from the slipshod coverage of the 40 Days for Life Campaign from Planned Parenthood's roving activist "Emily X". The creepy, back-alley, assasin-on-the run style blog "I am Emily X" finally got around to covering the Everett Campaign.

Telling the truth also seems to be to difficult for Planned Parenthood.

We have seen no one with an umbrella, yellow or otherwise.
We have seen no one with a vest, yellow or otherwise.
There has not been one "graphic poster".

Short notice? The schedule has been posted on-line for several weeks.

As part of their "Pledge-a-Protester" campaign she also lists "Protesters: 7". How could anyone trust that number after all the other lies in the post.

If you are a "Pledge-a-Protester" supporter and want to make sure Planned Parenthood is telling you the truth about how many "protesters" were out on the day Emily X claims to have been there, email me and we'll get you the correct number.

David Bereit of 40 Days for Life Visits Washington

David Bereit, the leader of the national 40 Days for Life Campaign, visited Washington and spent some time with the great pro-lifers who are holding vigils outside our state's Planned Parenthood abortion mills. This is a great man who will no doubt be part of American history books some day.

Check out the great pics at the bottom of the page from his visit to the Washington vigil sites!

Baby saved, Woman Injured at Olympia Planned Parenthood

This just in from the 40 Days for Life Campaign in Olympia.

A girl was going into Planned Parenthood here in Olympia, WA to have an abortion. One of our Show the Truth sidewalk counselors reached out to her verbally and she responded. After some soul searching the girl decided to accept his offer of help. She is now receiving that help.

Unfortunately, another girl was not so fortunate. She left Planned Parenthood's parking lot on a gurney in an aid car. Please pray for her recovery.

Post-Abortion Retreats for Men and Women

I've heard so many good things about Project Rachel I want to promote their retreats as much as I can. If you've had an abortion consider attending one of their retreats. It will change your life. The retreats are open to men and women of any faith.

If you aren't ready to attend a retreat and just need someone to talk to, you can call Valerie at 800-822- HOPE.

For locations other than Washington and Oregon see here.

If you wish to attend a Rachel's Vineyard retreat at one of the locations below, please call or e-mail the contact person listed or call toll-free 877 HOPE 4 ME.

Washington
Auburn
Contact: Noemi 206-450-7814
Next Retreat: TBA
Note: Espanol

Ellensburg
Sponsor: Diocese of Yakima
Contact: Nancy Murray 509 554 9415
Next retreat: September 19 - 21

Longbranch
Contact: Valerie Jacobs 800 822 HOPE
Next retreat: TBA

Stanwood
Contact: Valerie Jacobs 800 822 HOPE
Next retreat: May 15 - 17, 2009

Tacoma area
Contact: Noemi 206-450-7814 (Espanol) or Valerie Jacobs 800 822 HOPE
Next retreat: September 19 - 21, 2008
Espanol
Next retreat: November 7 - 9, 2008

Vancouver
Contact: Valerie Jacobs 800 822 HOPE
Next retreat: TBA
Note: Espanol

Oregon
Eugene
Contact: Lori Eckstine 800 249 8074 or 541 521 5186
Next retreat: TBA

Medford
Contact: Lori Eckstine 800 249 8074 or 541 521 5186
Next retreat: TBA

Portland
Contact: Lori Eckstine 800 249 8074 or 541 521 5186
Next retreat: November 14 - 16

Upcoming Pro-Life Events in the Spokane Area

Mark Your Calendars For Life Chain 2008!
Spokane's Life Chain will be held on the first Sunday in October (October 5th) from 2pm to 3pm along the Northbound side of the Division couplet between Mission and Indiana in Spokane. Life Network invites His church to seek intercession for those whose lives have been touched by abortion, alongside thousands of cities nationwide taking part in the Life Chain at this same hour. Signs will be provided. For more information about Life Chain, you can visit www.lifechain.net or call Violet Stephens at (509) 238-6356. Hope to see you there!

Open Arms PCC & Real Choices Clinic Presents An Evening Of Desert
Join Open Arms for an evening of dessert with featured Speaker Frank Peretti, September 19th, 2008 at The Coeur d'Alene Resort at 7:00pm. For pricing and more information about this event call Open Arms at (208) 667-5433

Life Services 18th Annual Fall Fundraiser
Life Services invites you to join them for their 18th Annual Fall Dessert Fundraiser happening at the Spokane Ag Center on Thursday October 2nd 2008 at 7pm. For pricing and information please call Life Services at (509) 327-0701

Tune in at 2 to Hear Michelle McIntyre of Life of the Party

Our friend Michelle McIntyre of Life of the Party will be joining Bob Enyart on his Denver radio show today at 3 PM Mountain Time, 2 PM Pacific Time. For Coloradoans, you can tune into KLTT 670 AM. For everyone else, check out Bob's website for streaming live, or later for the updates.

Michelle says:

I'm looking forward to the discussion. Potential topics will include: the RNC, John McCain, Sarah Palin (if you've been watching here for my opinion on McCain's VP pick, listen in), Washington State's I-1000 (Assisted Suicide ballot initiative) and most likely, the one and only topic on which we disagree: Ron Paul.

More here...

Post-Abortion Testimony

I love this testimony. My friend Ellen is featured in it. It's from a magazine article that was published in December of last year but as I was reading it again tonight I realized how many parts of her story I could relate to and thought others might as well.

Now I have nothing but the peace, joy, love and hope of lving in the life of Christ. Every year my life gets better. I’m in a place of joy,” she says.

Ellen Egge has a story worth sharing.

Story starts on Page 10.

Seven Washington Sites to hold 40 Days for Life Vigils

Everett, WA--In a state which the entire political and media establishment insist is decidedly and immovably "pro-choice" on abortion, 7 cities have generated enough support to commit to the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history, joining up with cities nationally and internationally, 170 cities in all. The 40 Days for Life campaign features prayer, fasting, round-the-clock peaceful vigil outside an abortion facility and grassroots educational outreach. The campaign will run from September 24--November 2.

Register here.

Life of the Party Primary Endorsements

Michelle did a lot of work to pull this list together.

Don't vote straight Republican if you want to vote pro-life. Michelle susses out the pro-abortion choice Republicans for you.

Barr Labs Doesn't Deny Secret Deal with Planned Parenthood, Fails to Offer Evidence of Plan B Effectiveness

By Jonathan B.
In an interview with Abortion In Washington, the manufacturer of the lucrative 'morning-after pill' known as Plan B did not deny that it has a secret deal with Planned Parenthood to provide them the drug at a massively discounted price of $4.25 per unit.

This deal between Barr Labs and the nation's largest and most profitable abortion conglomerate has been reported in the Boston Globe and many other places. It was first made public from court documents in California in 2004.

AIW is the first news source to confront Barr Labs directly with this evidence. This deep discount is highly controversial because PP sells this drug to clients at anywhere from $24-$38 per unit, and bills Medicaid $10.15, plus an $11.50 "dispensing fee", for a total of $21.65. All of this adds up to many millions of dollars of pure profit. Customers generally have no idea that they are being gouged with these enormous markups.

Carol Cox, Barr spokeswoman, would only say: "I am unfamiliar with the court case to which you are referring," and then weakly added: "As a matter of Company policy, Barr does not comment on litigation matters, nor on product pricing."

AIW had not asked them to comment on the litigation.

Ms. Cox also conspicuously failed to make any effort to answer our questions about Plan B's reported ineffectiveness in achieving its widely advertised goals.

Barr Labs, Prof. Don Downing of the University of Washington, Planned Parenthood, and countless governmental health and human services departments have been promoting Plan B as a way to dramatically reduce the abortion rate, by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies.

But we pointed out to Ms. Cox that there have been no studies anywhere in the world showing any correlation between increased Plan B availability and reduced rates of unintended pregnancies.

"Can you please comment on that?" we asked.

Silence, from the drug's manufacturer. Dead silence. A subsequent repeated request to get this question answered met with similar silence.

We followed up with a specific, local example.

We told Ms. Cox that Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) reports that they are selling about 120,000 units of Plan B a year -- for an apparent profit of about $2.4 million -- yet their abortion business has been growing at about 11% every year during this time. Moreover, we added, they have claimed that their sales of her firm's product have resulted in many hundreds of fewer unintended pregnancies: "This prevents an estimated 600-800 unintended pregnancies every month, about half of which would have resulted in terminations," reads PPWW's 2005 Annual Report.

"How would you explain that?" we inquired. Again, Barr Labs had nothing to say.

When we spoke to PPWW's Brian Cutler about this topic, he squirmed for a bit, and eventually asked "Well, does it really matter?"

We have made repeated efforts to speak to Prof. Don Downing, who runs around the country getting the drug distributed as widely as he can, presumably for financial gain. Despite contacts by email and voicemail, Dr. Downing has had nothing to offer in his defence.

Pharmacists for Life International Executive Director Bo Kuhar condemned Barr's refusal to answer such simple questions. He told AIW: "Once again, the largest abortion provider has found a creative way to kill more preborn children through chemicals and make a greater profit margin doing it," He added: "We are not surprised at [their] sleezy business dealings [and] siphoned off over $300 million in taxpayer money and made a profit of over $112 million last year."

Help Educate Dino about Abortion

Dear Silent No More Awareness Friends --

Are you willing to share a short version of your testimony with candidate for governor Dino Rossi?

He's set up this web site for people to "share comments, concerns and ways to improve our state": Tell Dino.

Men who regret participating in an abortion or wish they'd been given a chance to stand up for their child should also share their thoughts.

In the video linked from Life of the Party you'll see that Dino apparently feels that he will be prevented from helping to build a culture of life in this state since he can't overturn Roe and the legislature won't send him any pro-life bills.

I think he is wrong. There is a lot he could do.

Maybe you could give him some ideas to help women avoid abortion. Maybe he'd start to see that he doesn't need to be on the defensive. Maybe he'd start telling the voters how abortion is hurting the people of Washington and something needs to be done. Maybe he'd even take the lead despite the risk. Maybe he might even win this time.

40th Anniversary of Humane Vitae

This week the Catholic Church celebrated the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humane Vitae. Catholic or non-Catholic, love or hate the Church, everyone should read it for a full understanding of what the Church actually teaches and to help form your own conscience on contraception.

Here is one of the most prophetic sections of the encyclical:

Consequences of Artificial Methods
17. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.

Remember, this was published in 1968. Does anyone doubt that these prophesies have come to pass.

Our state and nation promote the chemical sterilization of women through billions and billions of dollars given to Planned Parenthood and all the government agencies that push contraceptives on the American public. We also have massive overseas "family planning" programs under the auspices of the UN, USAID, World Bank and other governmental agencies that push contraceptives as tools to "fight poverty" and "promote security". Have we not given "into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife"?

Where are the libertarians, athiests, free-thinkers, demanding the government stay out of our personal lives?

This last week we were treated to news that "pro-choice" Commissioner for Public Lands, Doug Sutherland, was accused of, and admitted to, basically feeling-out a female subordinate and alluding to meeting up with her at her field office.

Yuck.

In his "pro-choice" contraceptive/abortion soaked mentality it seems as thought Mr. Sutherland has forgotten "the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduc[ing] her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires."

Where are the liberals, feminists, and pro-choice libertarians aghast at this clear violation of a woman's freedom and her body?

AIW Celebrates Third Year of Publishing

Abortion in Washington officially launched May 2005 when Jonathan put up our first simple post -- This blog has been created to publicize factual information relating to abortion in Washington State.

It was July 18th, 2005, however, that we published our first full length post.

From then on we posted information and commentary, analysis and investigative reporting on the abortion industry and their supporters. We also decided we want to cover pro-life events that were mostly ignored in the MSM. The Seattle Post Intelligencer, the Seattle Times and all three television stations on the west side of the mountains have refused to cover one of the most audacious and news worthy events in the debate over abortion since its legalization -- the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.

We covered it.

Here's more of what we've accomplished in just 3 short years:

• We've had over 16,000 visitors and 24,500 page views since 2005.
• We are the only news source -- blogger, newspaper (online or otherwise) television or radio station -- that reported the details about the financial and professional relationships between Planned Parenthood, Professor Don Downing (UW School of Pharmacy), the
  Washington State Pharmacy Assocation, the Washington State Board of Pharmacy and
  Barr Laboratories (manufacturer of Plan B) in their ongoing efforts to force
  pharmacists to sell their product (Plan B) or lose their job. See also here.
• We are the only news source that has analyzed the finances of various Planned Parenthood affiliates of Washington and given a true accounting of the direct cost to the taxpayers of Washington state.
• We are the only news source to reveal that while Planned Parenthood, Professor Downing and the Washington State Board of Pharmacy were touting the ability of Plan B to reduce the abortion rate, the number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood had been increasing by 11% a year.
• We got Planned Parenthood of Western Washington to admit that Plan B wasn’t reducing the abortion rate, and to admit that it “didn’t really matter”.
• We are the only news source to reveal the truth behind Planned Parentood's claim that they were closing their Longview clinic due to suspension of the Take Charge Program, when in fact the Take Charge Program had been extended, and in fact Longview kicked them out because of their green and aggressive efforts to push their contraceptive/abortion agenda on the community.
• We've conducted interviews with executives of Planned Parenthood and NARAL and confronted them on their unwillingness to institute any safeguards to ensure women are given full informed consent to abortion without coercion.
• We interviewed the executive director of the abortion trade group NARAL Washington who told us, "abortion is a very hard thing for women emotionally." -- An admission akin to a cigarette company executive admitting that cigarettes are bad for your health.
• We exposed that Planned Parenthood affiliates of Washington State have seen their revenues and profits skyrocket because of the federal government’s Take Charge program, designed to reduce the tax dollars spent by Medicaid on childbirth, but that in fact that number grew by 50%.
• We are one of only seven blogs with a permanent link at Pharmacists for Life International.
• We are contributors to other important Washington state pro-life blogs Life of the Party and The Reagan Wing.
• State legislators have contributed feedback to our posts.
• Human Life of Washington regularly publishes and distributes our articles to their affiliates and list of pro-life activists state wide.
• Our readers come from the Washington state, United States, and around the globe -- including the Vatican. Planned Parenthood employees, NARAL Washington and NARAL national employees, federal and state government officials, pro-lifers, and university and high school students all visit our site.

We are glad that so many of you in the local abortion industry are reading the blog regularly. We continue to invite you to get out of the evil you are doing. For those who are knowingly killing children and scarring women or are addicted to the money, perhaps these words come too late. For the rest of you, who still feel the twinges of conscience, who desperately avoid looking into the eyes of the aborted babies before they are “disposed of”, we invite you to listen to that conscience, to look those babies in the eye.

We also invite you to contact us and let the world know what you saw.

We would remind you of the courage of P. Victor Gonzalez, the former CFO of Planned Parenthood of San Diego, who came clean and is now suing PP Affiliates of California, as a whistleblower under the False Claims Act, for $180 million because they fired him after he refused to go along with the systematic fraudulent billing of Medicaid under the 340B drug discount program. Let’s talk.

The only regrets are the stories we haven't had time to investigate or write up. Alas, we do this in our spare time. (Can you imagine if we got paid for this?)

Keep reading. Keep praying. The best is yet to come.

Blessings to our readers, contributors, friends, and supporters.

The Contraception Deception

Not since the editorial board came out in support of partial birth abortion has the Seattle Times published such a wicked and shameful editorial. The editorial – Lift the Plan B Ban – is wicked because it willfully and haughtily lies to people about Plan B and misrepresents the pleas of the pharmacists who refuse to sell it. It is shameful because at a time when the public needs factual information about this drug in particular, how it came to be on the market, and the Constitutional issues surrounding the cause of the pharmacists we are given trite, shop worn propaganda about “women’s health”.

Enough.

There is no Plan B “ban”. Plan B and contraceptives are ubiquitous. They are in our schools. Advertisements for them litter the pages of glossy magazines. Our politicians, even those claiming “pro-life” credentials support their widespread distribution. The combined Planned Parenthood affiliates of Washington received about $20 million dollars from the state of Washington for the purchase and distribution of contraceptives in 2007. They are there for the asking. There are two maybe three pharmacists in the whole state who do not want to sell this product.

Plan B is not a prescription drug. Plan B is sold over the counter. No trip to the doctor is necessary. No prescription is required. It was after the granting of OTC status that sales of Plan B went through the roof. Doesn't sound like a "ban" or a lack of "access" to me.

Plan B is not health care. Plan B is an overdose of the steroid hormone progesterone. The makers and promoters of Plan B claim that for every 100 women who have unprotected sex one time during the second or third week of their monthly menstrual cycle, 8 of them will get pregnant. But if those same 100 women use Plan B, only one will get pregnant. Their hook is the claim that "Plan B reduces a woman’s risk of pregnancy by 89%." What very few people have bothered to notice or point out is that in this scenario 92 women have taken a drug that they didn’t need and unnecessarily exposed them to high levels of steroids. This is basic health care for women? Are we back to selling snake oil?

A debate over the First Amendment is not a “red herring.” This battle is part of the larger crisis facing the country: the loss of the rule of law under the Constitution and the ensuing creep toward totalitarianism. That every branch of our government would collude with Planned Parenthood and big business interests of the pharmaceutical companies to coerce private citizens to violate their conscience in the pursuit of unbridled profit and power should concern every citizen. That the media is complicit only makes this battle all the more acute.

John Senior, in his book the Death of Christian Culture, said it best, “If truth is nothing but opinion, then right springs from the barrel of a gun.”

The Northwest Women’s Law Center, Seattle Times, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, Professor Don Downing of the UW School of Pharmacy, and the Washington State Board of Pharmacy have not once addressed or corrected these errors and concerns. Instead they keep repeating the words ‘access’, ‘women’ and ‘health care’ like some magical prayer.

The so-called "free press" for its part has done nothing to inform the public as to background on this drug and who is driving it in the marketplace.

Plan B was initially developed in part by an investment from Planned Parenthood of Western Washington and approved by the FDA in 1997. PPWW sold their interest in the drug to Barr Laboratories in 2004 when Barr agreed to pay a total of approximately $21 million, including approximately $9 million of assumed liabilities.

Professor Don Downing of the UW School of Pharmacy came on the payroll of Barr Laboratories to get Plan B into every pharmacy in the nation and secure distribution without a doctor’s prescription by “leveraging” boards of pharmacy. (That's what the Seattle Times means when it says, "...pharmacists have been key partners in strengthening women's access to contraception".)

Professor Downing was also one of the biggest proponents of using Plan B to “prevent abortion.” A lie based on fantasy, which has sadly become apparent as nations like the United Kingdom and states like Washington see their abortion rates increase.

Since Plan B went OTC Planned Parenthood of Western Washington’s profits from the sale of birth control have skyrocketed from $0 just three years ago to an extraordinary $7m. This is on $2m of merchandise. In other words, they bought $2m of merchandise, and turned around and sold it for $9m, pocketing $7m in pure cash.

In abortion jurisprudence and media coverage of abortion there’s something called the “abortion distortion”. All laws, commentary and public policy on abortion are twisted and distorted to accommodate abortion to the point that keeping abortion legal takes precedence over any and all other concerns. What we have now is a “contraception deception.” If the Court rules against the pharmacists next April I’m afraid the deception, and coersion, will only get worse as every law is scrutinzied to ensure it supports the contraception agenda that will ultimately take precedence over the Constitution and the health of women.

Planned Parenthood Refuses to Discuss Increased Demand for Abortion Services

We have recently documented the Washington abortion industry's awkward reluctance to talk about what they do.

PP of Spokane makes some provocative claims on their website. They claim that the demand for abortions in eastern Washington has declined in recent years. They also claim that the reasons for this are the Take Charge program and the distribution of emergency contraception.

As AIW readers know, there have been no studies anywhere in the world linking the availability of emergency contraception with lower abortion rates, and we have shown that the massive growth in the Take Charge program has been correlated with large increases in the number of abortions performed by PP of Western Washington. It's also correlated with large increases in sexually transmitted diseases so that today 1 in 4 teenage girls has an STD. In England and Wales the abortion rate hit a record high after a campaign of widespread distribution of Plan B in the United Kingdom began in 2001. "Among the very young, girls aged under 14, numbers have increased from 135 to 163, a jump of 21 per cent."

So we asked PP of Spokane (PPS) how they came to these conclusions. Unfortunately, it turned out to be much harder to get answers than you would hope.

At the very least, we wanted PPS to back up their claim of reduced abortion rates with actual numbers.

It took more than half a dozen phone calls and voicemails to PPS spokesman Jet Tilley to get a returned call. Eventually, we got through and spoke in person. We asked for answers to our above questions.

Ms. Tilley seemed reluctant to disclose any information about their abortion business, but indicated she would do so by email after some research.

No email was forthcoming.

We placed several follow-up phone calls with Ms. Tilley, speaking with her on several occasions.

She admitted that answering our questions was not a priority, but said she had tried to send the answers via emails but that "the emails had bounced", or that she didn't have our email address.

We sent emails to her to make sure she did have the correct email address, yet still no answers were forthcoming.

In fact, we have given her months to get us answers, yet we still have none.

Why is Planned Parenthood of Spokane unwilling to admit how many abortions they do every year? Why do they claim that emergecy contraception distribution and the Take Charge program has reduced the abortion rate when they can't back up this claim?

Is Planned Parenthood of Spokane lying?

If they had the guts to answer our questions, maybe we could find out.

by Jonathan B.

Portland Vigil Brings out New Pro-lifers

By Christina
My parish, Holy Rosary Church in Portland, Oregon, is a fairly large parish with many wonderful large families and so many awesome young people. I realized though, that we all needed to be more activily involved in pro-life work as a parish, so after I finished my high school studies in January this year, I began to look at what I could do about this.

I was eager to get a pro-life youth group started there, but I soon saw that I needed to just get started in doing pro-life activities, and then form a group once people began to join me in these. So I set a date, July 5th, Saturday, for some pro-life activities at one of the big abortion mills in Portland, LoveJoy Surgicenter. I decided that we would hold a couple very beautiful, educational pro-life signs; pray the rosary; and hand out literature to passersby. This would all be a great start for the people of Holy Rosary.

A month before July 5th, I began personally inviting all kinds of parishioners to join me for this day at the abortion mill. Everyone was very supportive and eager to be a part of this, and said that they would try to make it over. The pastor of Holy Rosary, Fr. Anthony Patalano, was also wonderfully supportive and helpful! A week before the event, he announced it after all the Masses on Sunday for me! I'm very gratefull for his assistance and look forward to working with him more in pro-life activism.

I had never organized and lead a pro-life activity before, and I'll admit that besides being quite excited about it, I was a little nervous! I knew, however, that I just needed to jump in and get started, and that soon it would all be old hat!

Well, July 5th went very well! It was a perfect day, weatherwise, for this kind of thing, and everyone who came was wonderfully inspiring! The abortion mill was closed, since it was the day after Independence Day, but we were able to reach many people with signs and literature.

Most of us standing out there were young people, and I don't know if I've ever had such a great time doing pro-life work! They were so enthusiastic and inspiring in their zeal for what they were doing, and we were laughing almost the entire time! When it was time to leave, they wanted to stay, since they were having such a great time. And they were even setting the date for the next pro-life activity; I didn't have to! There were also several very awesome and fun-loving parents standing with us.

I am totally thrilled that this pro-life activity went so wonderfully, and am eager to do more of this with the parishioners of Holy Rosary. I was amazed at how, once they had someone to organize the event for them, they were all too eager to show up for it! And I am all excited to be a leader in the pro-life movement!

When Shepherds Lead

By Christina

We all know the importance of having our bishops and priests be actively involved in the pro-life movement, leading us in helping to end abortion in America.

The power that these spiritual leaders have, being the ones that we trust and depend on in our spiritual lives, is frankly amazing! I have seen some wonderful instances of them leading their people in pro-life work, and I am always surprised at what they can bring about, even by giving only a little encouragement to their people.

It’s a part of us to look to our priests and bishops for leadership and guidance. So when they show no interest in pro-life work, their people automatically go the same way. It’s up to the priests and bishops to instill in their people a love for pro-life activism.

Abortion is a spiritual battle, an intense battle between good and evil. This gives our priests and bishops an even greater responsibility to take an active interest in it. And imagine their responsibility to protect their young people from the evil of abortion!

I often truly wonder why they don’t do so very often. I honestly can’t come up with an answer to this one. If I was a priest or a bishop, I would take full advantage of my position to help end abortion. I will never understand otherwise.

After all the long years of study, all the hours of prayer and discernment, all the zeal and dedication that it took for our priests and bishops to get where they are, wouldn’t they be more than ready and eager to do all they can to eliminate the great evil of abortion?! Wouldn’t they be burning to fully excercise their sacred offices?! Wouldn’t they be on fire to do all the good they can?!

I don’t understand.

I think, however, that it is very important for us lay people to very specially help our priests and bishops with pro-life work. We need to be more dedicated to working with and for them, and not just asking and expecting them to do it all. I’ve been recently working with my pastor to do more pro-life activist work at my parish, and he has been very supportive! While asking him for a lot of support and help, I have been taking on a lot of the actual work and personally doing some of the time-consuming jobs. This is very helpful and encouraging to him because he can be involved in pro-life work but does not have to use up all his time on it.

One area that priests and bishops can assist the pro-life movement in a very special way is the 40 Days for Life. There is an incredible story about the success of a bishop leading this campaign in Texas. Wow! He had 89 different churches and 800 people all involved in the 40 Days for Life at one abortion mill! And yes, this mill just shut down! The story can be read here. It is an excellant example of the power that our spiritual shepherds have in leading their people in doing great things for the Church.

May we all do our best to encourage and support our priests and bishops in pro-life activism!

God bless.

One Dead, Two Wounded

Posted by Christina


You’ve most probably seen the pro-life slogan that runs, “Abortion: One Dead, One Wounded.” I think that this slogan is wonderful for exposing the ruin that abortion brings to both mother and child, and it is a beautiful expression of our compassion for the mothers who are victims of abortion and not just the babies.

But you know, while I see it as truthful and beautiful, I also see it as incomplete. Every abortion does kill a baby, and every abortion does wound a mother, but in this slogan that mentions only the baby and his/her mother, we have again forgotten the father.

If we forget the fathers who are, along with the mothers, victims of every abortion, who will remember them? And if no one remembers them, who will help them?

We cry out indignantly against the pro-abortion movement’s constant downplay of fatherhood’s rights and dignity, and we accuse them of trampling a sacred and irremovable part of every family. And rightly we should. But do we also often forget fathers? Do we, through our forgetfullness, unwittingly assist the abortion industry in burying the importance of fathers in the lives of their children?

Abortion in America is built on two main pillars: lies and silence. One of the favorite lies is, of course, that fathers have no rights or say in the lives of their unborn children. And silence on this issue greatly helps to furthur the lie. Now if we too forget to speak up constantly in the defense of fathers and offer them help, what are we doing to combat such an evil combination of lies and silence?It’s easy to forget the fathers, in our efforts to reach out to the mothers whose babies are threatened by abortion. But if we do, we only furthur the anti-fatherhood cause that the pro-abortion movement has worked so long and so hard to uphold. They know that once fathers are given back the rights that are theirs, abortion won’t stand a chance. Because it is the nature of fatherhood to fiercely protect their children.

Why else would the pro-abortion movement so tenaciously guard the lie that fathers have no rights in regards to their children? Without the shield of this lie, abortion is pretty much gone.

So we can’t for one moment forget the importance and rights of every father in the lives of his children. Not only must we expose the pain of abortion for fathers, but also the responsibility and rights that they have, and that no one can take these away from any father.

The abortion problem is, if we think about it, largely a father’s issue, since in every family it is the father’s duty to protect and guard his wife and children.

Notice the almost unbelievable skill of the pro-abortion movement in effectively furthuring their cause: one of the first things they did in legalizing abortion back in 1973 was too strip fathers of their rights!

It’s up to us to come back in full force against the lies that are destroying the sacredness, duties, and rights of fatherhood! Lies that use a most despicable way to furthur the murder of innocent children! Terribly shameful!

But what else would be so effective a shield for the pro-abortion movement? It is one of hell’s worst deceptions!

Let us do our best to constantly combat one of abortions most supporting lies. And so, it is not, “Abortion: One Dead, One Wounded.” It is, “Abortion: One Dead, Two Wounded”!

Washington Pro-lifers Win a Victory Against Planned Parenthood

Grassroots Pro-Life Victory: Wal-Mart tells Planned Parenthood -

Not in our Parking Lot

Washington, DC (27 June 2008) - A Wal-Mart parking lot in Richland, Washington is the latest front-line in the battle against abortion-giant, Planned Parenthood. At the request of hundreds of pro-lifers, the store cancelled an event in which Planned Parenthood would pass out information in the lot June 27.

American Life League sent out a press release June 26 to pro-lifers across the country informing them of this latest Planned Parenthood encroachment into neighborhood retailers. “It’s hard enough for parents to safeguard their children from Planned Parenthood’s pervasive sexualized propaganda,” said Marie Hahnenberg, a researcher with American Life League.

“They shouldn’t have to worry about exposing their kids to Planned Parenthood’s aggressive agenda even in Wal-Mart’s parking lot.”

Local protests were led by Jim Toth, pro-life chairman of the Knight of Columbus for the state of Washington, and after reportedly hundreds of calls and e-mails, the store decided to cancel the event.

“We thank Wal-Mart for taking a stand against Planned Parenthood,” Hahnenberg continued.
“In the spirit of Sam Walton, Wal-Mart has put the best interest of its customers first and they are to be commended for their decision. We’d also like to especially congratulate Jim and the Knights of Columbus, St. Joseph Council in Kennewick, Washington, as well as the hundreds of pro-lifers across the country who responded with calls, prayers, and support.”

American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death.

For more information or press inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.

###

Katie Walker
Director of Communication
American Life League
1179 Courthouse Road
Stafford, Virginia 22554
540.659.4942
kwalker@all.org

Mum's the Word at Local Abortuaries when it Comes to Truth about Abortion

By Jonathan B.

The British Parliament recently concluded debate on a bill that would have reduced the maximum age at which unborn children can be executed through abortion. While the leftist-dominated Parliament eventually voted down the reform, widely publicized ultrasound images have piqued the consciences of the British public and reignited a long-simmering discussion over the obvious humanity of the defenseless unborn child.

Since 1967, the United Kingdom has allowed abortions up to 24 weeks, or an incredible 6 months! Ultrasound imagery of babies as young as 12 weeks sucking their thumbs and otherwise behaving like, well, babies has revealed the horror of this policy. The proposals were only to reduce the limit by 4 weeks, to 20, a small step, but in the right direction.

We decided to ask what Washington State's abortionists and abortion industry leaders thought about this grassroots and science-driven groundswell in the UK.

Another major development out of England recently has been the publishing of new research and guidelines by the Royal College of Psychiatry, stating that women seeking abortions should be screened for risk of emotional trauma, and warned of the risk of long-term psychological harm. The abortion industry and their enablers in the medical elites have long tried to maintain that no such link exists.

We contacted Deborah Oyer, abortionist and owner of Aurora Medical Services, for comment. We left two messages with her assistant, and sent two emails. Despite these efforts, Ms. Oyer, who admits to performing abortions up to 18 weeks of human life, declined to call or write us back with her thoughts on why the British people were moved to consider these changes to the law, or why the country's leading psychiatric professionals consider abortion to be a source of long-term emotional damage.

We then tried Eileen Gibbons, abortionist and owner of the downtown high-rise abortuary which goes by the curious name of Seattle Medical and Wellness Clinic. Again, despite repeated phone calls, Ms. Gibbons who does abortions up to "18.2 weeks" did not want to talk about the reaction of disgust that secularized, independent, informed observers have about her source of income.

Having failed twice, we decided to try Washington's true late-term abortion chain, Cedar River Clinics. We contacted Beverly Whipple, founder and director of Cedar River which was fraudulenty started with an auto loan and does abortions up to a horrifying 24 weeks. Again, despite repeated attempts by phone and email, we could not get Ms. Whipple to return our overtures to discuss what it might be about what she and her employees do every day that would move a modern, liberal people to recoil and gasp and call for the government to step in.

We also wanted to know if her three clinics warn women of the emotional and psychological risks of abortion. Apparently she didn't want to talk about this either, just like Ms. Gibbons and Ms. Oyer.

Having failed to get the state's leading practitioners of late-term abortion even to return a phone call or email, we contacted Planned Parenthood for comment. While Planned Parenthood in this state reportedly doesn't perform abortions past 12 weeks, they oppose every possible legal restriction on abortion. The only Planned Parenthood spokesman we could reach was Jet Tilley, of Planned Parenthood of Spokane. We spoke to her by phone. When asked for comment on the developments in the UK regarding lowering the legal age of abortable babies, Ms. Tilley said she had none except that Planned Parenthood supports the legality of abortion up to "viability", whatever that might be at any moment in time.

When asked what the British public might have seen in the ultrasound images that prompted this move -- it's no mystery really -- Ms. Tilley claimed she had no idea.

When further asked about the new position from the Royal Society of Psychiatry that women seeking abortions should be screened for risk of emotional trauma warned of the risk of long-term psychological harm, Ms. Tilley claimed she had never heard about it. She promised to get hold of a copy and get back to us. Despite repeated subsequent phone calls and emails, no such response has been forthcoming.

Planned Parenthood, like all Washington abortion businesses, continues to ridicule such claims in public about abortion's long-term psychological harm, and withholds any information about such risks from their clients.

Update: Planned Parenthood has lost it's appeal to stop a South Dakota law that requires women be told they have a right to continue a pregnancy and that abortion may cause women psychological harm, including thoughts of suicide.

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that South Dakota can begin enforcing a law requiring doctors to tell women seeking abortions about the potential for psychological harm and that the procedure ends a human life.

Despite the overwhelming scientific and anecdotal evidence Planned Parenthood still doesn't want to admit the scientific truth about what abortion does to the baby and the mother. They'll fight tooth and nail to prevent their "doctors" from telling women the truth or as in our state they just bury their heads in the sand.

Big Abortion Partners with the Big Box: The Planned Parenthood - Wal-Mart Collaboration

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
26 June 2008
CONTACT: Katie Walker
540.659.4942 kwalker@all.org

PLANNED PARENTHOOD SELLS SEX AT WAL-MART

Washington, DC (26 June 2008) – Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion chain in the country, has teamed up with a Wal-Mart Supercenter, an affiliate of the largest retailer in the country, in an effort to supersize their campaign to sell sex to children.

Planned Parenthood will pass out information at the Wal-Mart in Richland, Washington from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on June 27.“Planned Parenthood is now in such desperate need of customers it’s willing to do anything – even stand outside shopping centers to lure young people into its clinics,” said Marie Hahnenberg, a researcher for American Life League.

Planned Parenthood, Hahnenberg says, is responsible for the deaths of over 289,700 babies in 2006 alone and also recently was willing to accept donations earmarked specifically for the abortion of black children. The organization faces lawsuits across the country for protecting child rapists and is coming under increasing fire for its use of pornography in tax-subsidized programs, advertisements and literature.

“They’re pushing pornography and contraception onto young children – beginning in kindergarten. Now parents aren’t even safe to go shopping without worrying Planned Parenthood will pressure their kids into promiscuous lifestyles that will increase their bloated birth control and abortion profits,” Hahnenberg said.

American Life League is asking community members to call Wal-Mart at (509) 628-8420 or 1-800-WAL-MART and demand they stop Planned Parenthood from this literature distribution.

For more information on Planned Parenthood, visit www.all.org/stopp/

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FOR MORE INFORMATION: KNDO RIGHT NOW: Free HIV Testing (26 June 2008)

STOPP International

Another Washington State Pro-lifer Brings Hope in Face of Despair

In early June Spokane pharmacist Jodi Wagner, R.Ph. CACP, a member of Pharmacists for Life International, shared her eloquent and honest personal testimony on why she could no longer fill prescriptions that included drugs with abortifacient effects.

Our state now has the beautiful testimony of John Peyton a long time volunteer and speaker for Human Life of Washington who is dying of ALS. He generously agreed to be interviewed in opposition to the assisted suicide initiative (I-1000) and light a candle amidst darkness that has overtaken our state.

Last week he was interviewed by Laura Ingraham for Fox News.

Here is the link to the video.

HT: Pharmacists for Life International

Revised 2007 Numbers on State Planned Parenthood Funding

By Jonathan B.
In a previous post, we estimated the total amount of money given by DSHS to all Planned Parenthood’s in Washington State through Medicaid at $15 million. We want to apologize. We were wrong.

Our numbers were off.

It turns out that the total, for 2007, was $23 million! ($23,158,857 to be precise)

The only good news in there for those who want to see the state get out of our children’s bedrooms is that this was actually down from the previous year, wherein Olympia doled out over $26 million for “health care” services.

That $23 million which was spread across the four state affiliates: PP of Western Washington [PPWW], PP of Central Washington [PPCW], PP of Spokane [PPS], and PP of Mt. Baker [PPMB].

The lion’s share of that figure, of course, went to PPWW: $15 million. The break down was as follows:

PPWW: $15 million
PPCW: $3.3 million
PPS: $2.4 million
PPMB: $2.1 million

About $2 million of the $23 million was directly for abortion. Most of the remainder was for contraception.

In typical Planned Parenthood fashion, a few legitimate health care services like STD testing are thrown in there as well.

No funds were spent on labor and child delivery.

Fred Finn Working Hard to Continue Washington's Abortion Tradition

The ever fearless Chimukani at Life Thoughts has two great reports on Fred Finn, candidate for 35th LD State Representative Position 2.

1. Finn is endorsed by the abortion lobby NARAL.
2. Finn is hiding behind a woman's skirt...

Chimukani reports that his office has said "The issue of abortion is very close to Fred Finn" Ahh! What does this mean? We wonder if Mr. Finn isn't a lot like another abortion supporting representative -- Geoff Simpson.

How Pro-Life Are You?

We are about to find out. Cuz Obama's gonna turn the ole' page on you nice pro-life folks.

I am absolutely convinced that culture wars are so nineties; their days are growing dark, it is time to turn the page," Obama said in July. "We want a new day here in America. We're tired about arguing about the same ole' stuff. And I am convinced we can win that argument."

Are you ready to pay heavy fines for your pro-life beliefs? Jail time would create martyrs and they aren't about ready to allow that.

Show the Truth Washington Wraps Up Spring Tour

[We are honored to announce we have a guest blogger at AIW --Christina from Mossyrock, Washington. She is a homeschooler and a fervent pro-lifer. Christina and her family have been generously and lovingly warning the women and men of Washington about the dangers of contraceptives and abortion for many, many years. She is also a blogger at Generations for Life and we look forward to reading her wonderful insights and reporting that will help us shine the light of truth on Washington's abortion industry. God bless you, Christina! -- Mary]

Report On Our Pro-Life Tour
by Christina

The pro-life tour across Washington State with Show the Truth was absoutely great! We went from Olympia to Spokane over a period of five days, stopping at abortion mills, colleges, and universities along the way and holding signs and passing out literature.

There were seven of us teenagers along on the tour, and each of us had a wonderful time and really loved every bit of it! It was very inspiring to see all these kids taking time off school and work in order to dedicate some time and energy to saving babies. I think also that we learn very much on these tours!

One college that all of us really like to visit on our tours is The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

This college is known in Washington for some of its students who are strongly and aggressively active in furthuring the Culture of Death. By no means are all of Evergreen’s students involved in such things, but those who are have made a name for their college.

And of course these students wouldn’t all congregate at Evergreen if the college was not friendly to their cause in the first place.

So The Evergreen State College is a stronghold for the Culture of Death and those who promote it, and we love to go there and educate the students about abortion and its consequences.

If we arrive there later in the day, we will almost surely have a pretty fantastic counter-demonstration and debates with the students. During Show the Truth’s first visit to Evergreen a few years ago, there was quite an uproar. The pro-life people had their signs spray-painted and punctured, and an excited crowd of students were totally unglued about the visit. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and hopefully the students learned about abortion. And Show the Truth made a resolution to return again to Evergreen.

Since that first visit, things have somewhat smoothed out, and the students are accustomed to seeing our display. However, there are still many good discussions between us and the students. During my very first visit to Evergreen, I seriously felt like losing it! I’d never been in any such situation before, and the taunts of the students were almost overwheming. I was fifteen, and they’d say things like, “I hope that you grow up and go to college someday and learn that you are wrong”. The good thing is, I didn’t lose it, and since then I feel like I’ve come such a long way in knowing how to talk with people and keep cool and really help them with their difficulties. We always hold graphic signs of aborted babies when we are at Evergreen. We also hold a few graphic signs of live preborn babies. And I found that the students really like to see such positive graphic signs; they like to be told what they can do. While holding aboption signs, I’ve had several students come over and thank me for holding that sign instead of a sign with an aborted baby on it.

It might be a good idea during such demonstrations to have only a few signs with aborted babies and a lot of signs that show adoption and the life of the preborn child.

Another college that we were really hoping to be able to visit during this tour was Columbia Basin College in Ellensburg, Washington. This college actually has a public room inside their buildings, where people can put on educational demostrations and have great access to students who are on break from class.

Last spring Show the Truth was able to have their display inside this college, and it went wonderfully. We were able to hand out literature and fetal models to students and talk with them.

I remember two young guys coming over to our table rather hesitantly. They really wanted to see what we were doing. I said hi and kind of tried to welcome them over. They commented that I was probably wondering why they, being boys, were interested in preborn babies and pregnancy. I said, “Oh no, because you guys can be fathers!” They immediately approved of that and became comfortable. I found it very wonderful that they loved the idea of fatherhood and babies, and it was an eye-opener to see that the idea of abortion being a “woman’s issue” is only a falsehood that is forced on them; they do not willingly accept it and are eager to embrace their vocation of fatherhood, if only they would be allowed to.

We were not able to have a table inside this college again this year because the student who signed us up for last year is no longer attending that college.

When we arrived in Yakima, Washington, we went first to the Cedar River abortion mill there. Every year this particular visit is very interesting. The employees here all come pouring out of the mill to watch our demonstration. We usually have a couple of vehicles with large pro-life signs, and these really set the employees off.

Once we even had the abortion mill employees out on the street holding pro-abortion signs in retaliation to our signs! We figured that we were being really effective! There is a great little pro-life group that demonstrated outside this mill once a week. Every year they are faithfully there with us and are doing an awesome work.

And in Yakima, we always have one or more news people come out to interview us and take pictures. One of these is a Christian news station and is very wonderful and supportive of us! While in Yakima, we stayed overnight at a former seminary that is now the headquarters for Reach Youth Ministry. This is a group that does a very wonderful work of putting on retreats for young people in efforts to bring them closer to Christ. We love meeting the super kids that are in this Ministry, and they are always excited to see us.

It happened that one of the nights that we stayed in Yakima was the night for Reach’s annual fundraising dinner. We thought it would be great to go to this and give our suppot to their work. As it turned out, the dinner was spectacularly impressive and too much fun! They did a superb job on the whole thing, and everyone there (it was a full room) had a great evening! Some people gave speeches, and the Reach kids put on their own little skit. There were also some sweet little girls who put on this most wonderful little skit you ever saw! They sang beautifully and were totally confident up there on stage.

And wow! the Reach group really knew how to raise money! They gave us some great ideas for our pro-life fundraisers! We were very glad to have been able to attend this dinner and always look forward to returning to Yakima.

And now the abortion mill in Spokane, Washington. Whoa!! It’s aggressive there! We almost always have one or two aggressive incidents while we are in front of the Planned Parenthood there.

People will come up screaming at us, and stop short of physical abuse. So we keep our cameras ready, and are grateful for all the men that we have in our group!

The Planned Parenthood is situated on a fairly busy street right next to a very busy intersection, so we get great coverage for our signs. And the strange thing about this particular Planned Parenthood is that the building right next to it is a daycare center!! Why in the world?!And even stranger is the fact that the women who staff the daycare center come over to us and complain about our graphic signs. Yep, this is one of our easiest cases to argue.

I didn’t get the chance to speak with any of these women, but if I would’ve, I might have said something like, “What would you expect to see if you worked at a daycare built right next to Auschwitz?”

There is a really wonderful lady who puts on pro-life demonstrations at the Spokane Planned Parenthood every week, and she is doing a terrific job. She has definitely met with some aggressive and angry retaliations from passersby. Her husband is a lawyer and is thus able to help her very much with any cases involved with pro-life. He is also Show the Truth’s lawyer.
Several years ago, my mom was able to talk a little with one of Planned Parenthood’s escorts while we were there on a tour. A short time later, one of these escorts quit this job, and we believe that he was the same escort who mom talked with. This was very exciting and great news for us!

While in Spokane, we also stopped at Gonzaga University. We usually have a pretty good reception here. We noticed that the students there, though they don’t always agree with what we’re doing, are polite and caring. This is a breath of fresh air for us. Sadly though, I was told by a supportive student that our graphic signs are very needed at Gonzaga. I guess that a lot of students there support abortion. I expect better from a Catholic University.

One of our last stops was Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. We had a very satisfactory stop there, being able to hold signs and pass out some literature. We also were challenged by the campus security there, who said that we could not legally stand where we were standing with our signs. The director of Show the Truth handled it very well. He actually ended up calling 911 because the campus security officer was getting out of hand and needed to be put back in line. It was comical seeing the police arrive to help take care of campus security! But it all worked out and there were no arrests.

Our second to last stop was at the Planned Parenthood in Olympia, Washington. This was on Friday, when they do abortions. They usually do around eight abortions on Fridays, but on this Friday we believe that they did one abortion. We are hopeful that we prevented the other average seven!

And when we were there on Friday, Planned Parenthood actually called in counter-protesters. And one of them was the former head of NARAL!! So they must be getting desperate. It can be an interesting time at the Olympia Planned Parenthood because we sometimes encounter students from The Evergreen State College. They usually don’t give us too much trouble, but recently someone (who looks like he comes from Evergreen) wrote vulgar graffiti on the pro-life sign on Show the Truth’s truck.

Our last stop on our tour was at the Planned Parenthood in Centralia, Washington. This went extremely well, do in large part to the vast support for pro-life in this area. We were able to hand out a whole bunch of fetal models to passing cars and had an impressive display of signs in front of Planned Parenthood.

Altogether it was a fantastic tour, and we are all very pleased with it! We got to do some great work for life, and we got to meet and work with some absolutely wonderful people in the pro-life movement. We also learn so much on these tours!

Our very special thanks to all the great people who helped us, who joined us, and who hosted us at their homes on this tour, and for all the prayers for us and our work; and a very, very big thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Sauley who organized the tour. We love seeing you and working with you, and you are each a huge blessing! God bless and love you all!

And before I finish this somewhat lengthy account, let me tell you of a very unique and very wonderful little incident that happened while we were at the Planned Parenthood in Centralia. I can’t resist telling you all about it! It was one of those things that don’t happen very often, and it was also one of those things that only those in the pro-life movement get to see!

This is what happened: We all suddenly noticed that, a ways down the street from where we were standing, there was a young man standing with a cardboard sign. He had a mohawk haircut dyed pink, and was wearing black clothes with all kinds of silver chains, buttons, and other trinkets. We couldn’t see what his sign said because he was standing with his side facing us, but we (most of us) immediately assumed that he was holding some kind of sign that was against us. However, we did wonder why he was standing so far away from us.

The director of Show the Truth decided to go over and take a picture of this interesting guy. But then we saw him cross the street and shake hands with the guy and start talking. I thought, “Wow, Mr. Sauley (the director) is great at being able to talk and get along with just everybody!”

After a little bit Mr. Sauley came back and told us about the guy standing over there. He said the guy’s parents came over from Russia in the 1960’s, and his dad was a punk rocker. The guy also is a punk rocker like his dad. The guy also said that his mother hates him, sadly and strangely.

So after telling us these things about the guy standing over there, Mr. Sauley asked us, “And do you know what his sign says?” We said, “What?!” It said, Thank God Mommy didn’t abort me.

Government Crackdown on Abstinence Educators and Curriculum Begins

The WA State Dept. of Health has reviewed the SHARE [abstinence] curriculum and found it to be unacceptable for classroom use. They submitted a list of “errors” that needed to be changed before it could be reviewed again. Some of those changes were:

· Not talk about abstinence until marriage but only address disease and pregnancy issues.
· Tell teens about perfect and typical condom use even though typical use is more accurate .
· Don’t talk about intimacy/attachment because there aren’t any studies on them at the CDC.

These are just a few of the things the DOH thinks need to be changed. Some of them certainly can be looked at again but none of them are inaccurate at all.

How long is it going to take the public to wake up to the fact that the state of Washington and OSPI does not care about our kids?

Planned Parenthood of Western Washington Continues to Mislead Patients and Public

By Jonathan B.
Have you wondered how many abortion clinics Planned Parenthood operates in Western Washington?

Well, if you go to their website, you would arrive at a total of 23, in other words, every single one of their western Washington clinics. Each of their 23 clinics in Western Washington includes “Abortion Services” in their list of “Services Included”.

Take the Issaquah location, for example. PPWW spokesman Brian Cutler, however, told the Issaquah News in February of 2008 that they do not do abortions there, neither dismemberment/surgical nor chemical (RU-486). AIW contacted PPWW’s Bill Fairchild, Director of Marketing. Mr. Fairchlid confirmed that Mr. Cutler was correct, no abortions are done in Issaquah – yet. (It's interesting to note that Brian Cutler also told the Issaquah News that PPWW had people "counter protesting" in support of the Issaquah Planned Parenthood every day that the 40 Days for Life Campaign had people outside praying. His assertion is blatantly false.)

But why, we asked, does the clinic website include “Abortion Services”? Mr. Fairchild said it was because that clinic “offers referrals to other clinics” which kill unborn children. That’s all he was willing to say about it. There are many problems with this explanation.

Last year, for instance, when we asked why the listing on the PP website for their (now defunct) Longview clinic listed “Abortion Services”, the answer provided by an unnamed PP spokesman was not “because they can provide referrals” – which they of course could; rather, the spokesman said this listing was “a mistake” resulting from an overhaul of the website. (Interestingly, this “mistake” went uncorrected for over a year after its acknowledgment.)

After a single voicemail from Mr. Fairchild containing the information quote above, numerous subsequent attempts to get follow-up questions answered – by voice and by email – have failed. It seems Mr. Fairchild doesn’t want to talk about this policy of deliberately creating the false impression that every single one of their clinics does abortions.

We wanted to ask how listing a service as available at a certain location when what’s really available is just a referral is not false advertising. Obviously every clinic can provide referrals to any other clinic, so each clinic could list all services offered anywhere, thus making individual clinic service listings meaningless.

Why, Mr. Fairchild, don’t you list “Lasik Vision Correction” also? You can provide referrals for that too?

Interestingly, this policy only seems to be in effect with PP of Western Washington. Other PP affiliates in the state – PP of Central Washington, for example – do not list “Abortion Services” at every single location – even though they could provide referrals to their other abortuaries.

Mr. Fairchild’s explanation doesn’t seem to hold water. Perhaps that’s why he refuses to talk to us anymore. It’s interesting that a health contractor of the state is permitted to operate in this manner – using false advertising, and then refusing to answer questions about it.

We know PPWW reads this blog. We would welcome an explanation of this policy of yours.

Spokane Pharmacist to Testify Against Birth Control Pills

Protest the Pill Day '08 -- From Pharmacists for Life International and American Life Leauge

As we prepare for Protest the Pill Day '08: The Pill Kills Babies, several pro-abortion groups are in an uproar over this event. These groups are claiming that there is nothing wrong with the birth control pill and they do not want to admit that they are doing anything immoral. They attack our effort as "unscientific." Organizations such as Planned Parenthood have been lying to young women and will not admit that the pill can actually kill preborn babies! Hundreds of blogs have hotly debated Protest the Pill Day '08 since we launched the web site http://www.thepillkills.com/ and The Pill Kills Facebook Group.
Our web site makes the case quite clear and the facts simply speak for themselves.

On Friday, June 6 at 9 a.m., American Life League will hold a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. ALL, along with Pharmacists for Life International and Pro-Life Wisconsin, will educate the country about how the pill can, in fact, kill preborn babies.

Dr. Marie Anderson, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Tepeyac Family Center in Fairfax, Virginia, will be one of the medical experts speaking at ALL's press conference. Dr. Anderson joins a panel of experts who will make short statements and take questions on how the birth control pill kills human beings in the womb.

Jodi Wagner, R.Ph. CACP, a member of Pharmacists for Life International, is traveling from Spokane, Washington and will share her personal testimony on why she could no longer fill prescriptions that included drugs with abortifacient effects.

Peggy Hamill, director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, will be speaking about the battle to educate her state on the deadly effects of the pill. This state has a total of at least seven scheduled protests for June 7.
The pill does kill! This information is nothing new; we are simply raising more awareness and want to educate others on this fact. And we need YOUR help!

We are less than two weeks away from the first annual Protest the Pill Day. You still have time to organize peaceful protests outside facilities that distribute the birth control pill.

Remember, all 855 Planned Parenthood facilities across the country distribute this deadly poison.

ALL has the resources for you to participate in this event: "The Pill Kills" T-shirt, sign, "Talking Points" and a flyer you can use to promote your local protest! Visit the web site and you will be able to download the flyer and "Talking Points" for free!

Please e-mail us at protests@all.org or conscience@pfli.org if you plan to participate.