Tuesday, March 25, 2008

2008 Election News

This article has been updated since it was first posted with the following corrections:
Toby Nixon is a "former state representative". He did not lose his seat to Eric Oemig; both Oemig and he ran for the seat vacated by Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, who retired. Toby Nixon is running this year against Rep. Roger Goodman, who won the House seat Nixon vacated in 2006 to run for the Senate. (Many thanks to Toby Nixon for the corrections.)

Former state representative Toby Nixon (R-45) will attempt to regain the seat he gave up in 2006 to run for the Washington State Senate. His opponent will be Roger Goodman. In 2006, he ran against Eric Oemig for Sen. Bill Finkbeiner's senate seat and lost. Both Nixon and Oemig are pro-abortion.

Update: Roger Goodman is also pro-abortion.

Read Nixon's stand on "Abortion and Reproductive Rights" here.

Read our article and Nixon's juvenile "everybody else is jumping off the bridge" response to it here.

I had hoped that during his sabbatical from the legislature Nixon would have had time to read and reflect on the nature of freedom, justice and the limits of democracy. Just a suggestion -- maybe pick up a book on embryology. The flaws in Nixon's thinking are obvious and elementary so I won't detail them here. It's not that complicated really. We are talking about child murder after all.

Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby have the money and energy to support Goodman's reelection, and they will. The "pro-choice" voters Nixon thinks will come out and support him are a fantasy. Despairing pro-lifers will bring a few votes his way. Win or lose, D or R the 45th District will be safe seat for the abortion industry.

The better news is that the pro-life Michael Delavar will seek the Republican nomination the for the 3rd Congressional District seat held by Rep. Brian Baird.

Update: Thoughts on the Delavar-Baird race from Life of the Party.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Plan B: Drug of Choice for Child Rapists

A 19-year-old Orem man was arrested Tuesday for investigation in the rape of a 13-year-old female, a first-degree felony.

In an attempt to cover up any possible evidence, "...the child said that the suspect gave her a morning-after pill".

Hat tip: RealChoice

We don't have a big enough problem with child molesters that our state Board of Pharmacy, government, and UW School of Pharamcy have to go ahead and help facilitate their crimes now.

I guess they get paid no matter who buys the drug.

Prince Philippe of Belgium Pays Visit to Seattle Sidewalk Counselors

This unusual story just came in on my email:
On the morning of Saturday March 8, about 15 people, including Sarah Schaper, were praying in front of the Planned Parenthood on E. Madison St. in Seattle. Some of those praying held signs which said, "God Loves You and Your Baby”, "Stop Abortion", and "I Regret My Abortion." One sign was a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

A Yellow Cab stopped in front of the vigil attendees. A lady got out of the back seat. She asked for permission to take Sarah’s photo. Two men got out of the cab and photographed others in the group.

The lady told Sarah, "We have a prince." Prince Philippe, the crown prince of Belgium, introduced himself, took a photo of Sarah and said, “God bless you.”

May God bless Prince Philippe and his family!

Apparently the prince was here visiting Microsoft, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Boeing. Pray that the prince takes the pro-life message back to Belgium and puts a stop to the EU, the UN and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's promotion of abortion and contraception in the Third World. Killing people is not the solution to poverty.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Bad at Science. Great at Math.


Giving new meaning to the word brazen, Planned Parenthood has spent the most recent legislative session lobbying for even more money for the state's largest chain of abortion centers.
It's not enough that Planned Parenthood affiliates across Washington already receive close to $15 million from state and federal tax moneys. Nor is it enough that Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) makes a profit of $9 million in contraceptive sales each year. And let’s ignore the fact that all Washington Planned Parenthood branches have seen their revenues soar and coffers swell in recent years under the state’s Take Charge program. (In 2002 Planned Parenthood of Western Washington was listed as the fourth richest Planned Parenthood in the entire nation.)


Now they want another $8 million for their so-called "family planning" programs. Anyone with the eyes to see knows these programs are nothing more than gateway services to PP's higher priced abortion services where they can really make a killing.


As first reported here, PPWW has been growing its abortion business by 11% a year, at the same time as reaching new records in revenues, size, and clients reached with their “prevention” programs. These programs also appear to target the flood of immigrants who are coming to our state looking for work. Many of them are alone, unable to speak English and especially vulnerable to exploitation from organizations like Planned Parenthood.

When we asked PPWW spokesman Brian Cutler to produce a study showing a correlation with their programs and activities in this state and a reduction in teen pregnancy rates and/or abortion rates, he was unable to do so.

I guess Christine Charbonneau’s quarter million dollar a year salary just isn't enough to get by on in high priced Seattle. (She is the sixth highest paid CEO of a non-profit in the Seattle area.)

They've also decided that pimping out Washington teens to pester elected officials like John Ahern (R-Spokane) for the $8 million is a good use of class time. In a pot calling the kettle black story, Wesley Wilhelm, the parent of one of the teens accused Rep. Ahern of being "abusive" and asked that Ahern be investigated and punished for a "complete lack of human decency." I hate to break the bad news to Mr. Wilhelm but...

Representative Ahern asks a good question we wish these "civic-minded" teens would try to get the answer to because Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest (PPINW) doesn't seem to want to tell anyone: How many unborn babies has PPINW aborted anyway? We have asked them this question ourselves and will let you know if an answer is forthcoming.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

PPWW Refuses to Adopt Minimum Ethical Standards

By Jonathan B

If you are a 12-year-old victim of incest, and you get pregnant, and your abusive older brother takes you to a Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) abortion clinic, will PPWW report the crime to the authorities?

If you find yourself in a crisis
pregnancy and go to PPWW to discuss your options, will they let you listen to the baby’s heartbeat, and offer you a free ultrasound of your baby to help you in your decision-making, like many pregnancy resource clinics do?

These are some of questions we recently asked of PPWW’s spokesman Brian Cutler.

In an effort to find common ground, and to discover if there exists any sort of minimum ethical floor below which this organization won’t fall, we proposed a set of challenges to Mr. Cutler, policies that PPWW could adopt now demonstrate to its critics that it isn’t out a) to do as many abortions as possible, or b) to make as much money as possible.

Moreover, as a recipient of an almost $3 million health care contract from DSHS annually, being a health care partner of the state, and beneficiary of millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements, PPWW should have a high bar for patient care.

Here are some of our proposals:

1. Provide color fetal development pictures on the PPWW website in the ‘Abortion Information’ section.
2. Offer all abortion clients a view of the ultrasound of their unborn baby, with the baby's major identifiable anatomical parts pointed out, and offer to let them hear their baby's heartbeat, before making any decision about having an abortion, to ensure that these women know exactly ‘what’ is being removed from their womb.
3. Commit to a policy whereby at least 1 parent of a minor planning to have an abortion will be notified beforehand unless the minor attests that doing so will put her in genuine danger.
4. Wait three days between the first appointment and scheduling an abortion. In most states, when you get a mortgage, buy a used car, or even just get a high end vacuum cleaner, you have three days by law to change your mind. Is this because "you can’t be trusted to make a decision"? No, it's recognition that consumers can easily be pressured into doing something they don't really want to do in hindsight. Clearly abortion is a bigger decision than buying a Kirby. The only reason to rush is to make sure the client doesn’t have time to reflect.
5. Require that abortion clients be informed of pregnancy resource clinics and other resources to support them if they choose to continue their pregnancy.

How many of these proposals did Mr. Cutler agree to?



Not a single one.

Mr. Cutler’s response to voluntarily notifying a parent that their minor daughter was possibly the victim of a sexual predator, coercion, let alone about to undergo life-altering surgery was the standard PP spiel about parental notification legislation: “most of our minor patients inform and even include their parents…a minor is not required by law to notify her parents … what if the patient’s father is the one responsible for the pregnancy?”

We pointed out that notifying an incestuous father would be absurd because PPWW is required by law to notify the police in such a case. Mr. Cutler said nothing to this. In fact, Planned Parenthood clinics have come under heavy fire – though oddly enough no criminal charges – for doing abortions on girls known to be victims of incest without notifying authorities, only to return the child to the incestuous situation. Similarly with underage girls who are victims of statutory rape. We asked to see copies of training documents which show that PPWW employees are required to notify police when they encounter girls who are victims of such crimes. Mr. Cutler offered none. We asked how many times in the previous years PPWW had reported such cases to police. Mr. Cutler refused to give any number.

In the end, we offered that PPWW could craft its own policy just as some sort of bare minimum guarantee that ‘all things being equal’, PPWW would notify at least one parent if a minor was seeking an abortion with no good reason why a parent shouldn’t be involved.

Mr. Cutler rejected even this absurdly modest proposal, citing a “difference in values”.

Nothing To Hide?
Regarding the question of providing ultrasounds and foetal dopplers so pregnant clients can see their baby and hear their baby’s heartbeat, the ultimate in medically and scientifically accurate information, Mr. Cutler simply said: “We use UltraSound to determine the gestational age of the fetus. Any patient can view the UltraSound if she wishes. We certainly don't hide anything from our patients.” He didn’t provide any explanation of the rejection of adding text book graphics of foetal development on their website.

Moreover, when challenged on the claim that PPWW “doesn’t hide anything” from its patients, Mr. Cutler refused to answer any more questions, including:
  • How do you explain that we have interviewed women who went to PPWW clinics, were pregnant, and were explicitly told that they could not see the ultrasound until after they had agreed to an abortion and paid their money?
  • How do you explain that local pregnancy centers report that their clients who have been to PPWW clinics say the same thing?

  • How do you explain that
    we have interviewed women who had abortions at local PPWW clinics and were never shown fetal development pictures, but were instead told that the abortion simply involved the removal of 'pregnancy tissue'? This includes one woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, who after four abortions later got pregnant with a baby she wanted. Only then was she given (by her OB) pictures of what her unborn baby looked like. She was devastated. Had she been given these pictures in her previous pregnancies, one of which was ended at a local PPWW clinic, she related between tears, she wouldn't have chosen abortion.
  • Local pregnancy clinics, such as Life Choices of King County, have doctors who provide free ultrasounds to their patients. These types of clinics report that as many as 96% of abortion-minded women choose to keep their babies afterwards. What percentage does PPWW report?
  • Are ultrasound and fetal doppler machines, along with appropriately trained technicians, available in all PP clinics (which would be expensive), or just certain locations? The clinic detail on the website does not indicate the answer to this question.
  • Can you provide official training documents for counsellors in which they are instructed to offer pregnant women ultrasounds and to listen to their baby's heartbeat?
These should be straightforward questions to answer. All Mr. Cutler would say was that he didn’t want to “go round and round” on them.

Regarding providing encouraging and detailed information on non-abortion options, Mr. Cutler simply said: “All options are open to a woman from the moment she walks through the door at a Planned Parenthood health center,” an essentially meaningless statement. “We have information in brochure form,” he added weakly, “about adoption, carrying a pregnancy to term, where they can take pre-natal classes, and much more,” though he did not say anything about how counselors present this information if at all, or if these brochures are clearly displayed, or even up to date.

He did admit, however, that “we do not refer patients to crisis pregnancy centers.” To justify this policy he referred to studies from pro-abortion sources like “Rep. Henry Waxman of California” claiming that “CPCs disseminate medically misleading information”.

On the question of providing women a three day period prior to scheduling an abortion, Mr. Cutler was completely silent.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Abortion at Planned Parenthood: Unwanted and Botched

by Valerie L. Call Jacobs, MA
One recent afternoon the Project Rachel phone rang. A young woman, fighting to choke back sobs, began to pour out her heart.

“My sister wanted to keep her baby - and I tried to do everything I could to help her because..... I had an abortion years ago and I swore I would never go through that again!”
The young woman, who I will call Kelly, continued her anguished story.

"My sister had already begun to bond with her baby. She picked out a hospital and made an appointment with a midwife. But she never got to that appointment. One day....just one day! And everything changed!"

What was it that happened on that one day that changed everything for Kelly and her sister? She spent that one day with her parents, telling them about her pregnancy and her intentions to have her baby.

“How can you possibly think you can have a baby?!""You’re not ready; you’re too immature." "Don’t expect us to support you. You will be on your own with it.""You can’t live with either of us and if you have this baby, you won’t get any more money for school."
So what would you do if you were 19, single, pregnant, and the very people you look to for guidance - undermine your self-confidence and pull out all your rungs of support?

Kelly didn’t know what else to do to help her sister, so she went to Planned Parenthood with her.
“My sister was in so much physical and emotional pain. But they were so clinical. They said, ‘We’re going to extract the tissue.' It wasn’t tissue. It was a child! We both sobbed all the way through the procedure. No one really helped us. No one even questioned what my sister really wanted. She just felt she had no other choice.”

Days later Kelly’s sister was admitted to a local hospital for surgery to repair a perforated uterus. Kelly is agonizing over what she should or could have said or done to persuade her sister against that fateful choice. If only....

“I am grieving for my sister,” Kelly said. “I’m grieving for my niece or nephew.”
Kelly’s sister is grieving too. She is at serious risk of depression, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts or actions. She is at serious risk of experiencing such self-loathing that she will undermine the very life success her parents thought they were protecting for her. We can only pray that she won't also grieve the loss of her fertility.

At this point, I do not know the outcome of the surgery. It may be days or years before Kelly and her sister follow up with another call. I have left a message, but the physical recovery is a priority right now. I will give them some time and continue to check back. And, of course, I will continue to pray.

Kelly and her sister will need much compassion and love in the days, weeks and months ahead. They need to know that their lives are as precious as the children they once carried beneath their hearts. They need to know that there is hope and healing for their futures. Please pray with me for Kelly and her sister, even as we pray for that day when the Project Rachel phone will no longer ring.

Valerie L. Call Jacobs, MA
Project Rachel
1-800-822-HOPE (4673)
You are loved with an everlasting Love!

[This story was told to this editor in late 2007. We also pray for Kelly and her sister. This abortion happened at a Planned Parenthood of Western Washington abortion center.]