Seattle Area 'Megachurch' Reconsidering Ties to HopeLink Over 'Secret Abortion Taxis'

This blog's exposing of HopeLink's involvement in taking girls to and from abortion clinics -- at taxpayers' expense -- is having some fallout.

The King County organization is best known for food drives and arranging rides for the elderly. But they make the majority of their revenue -- tens of millions of dollars -- as Medicaid Transportation contractors for the state of Washington's Department of Health and Human Services (DSHS).

Part of that work involves taking women and girls getting abortions on the taxpayers' dime to abortion clinics. As reported by AIW earlier this year, nurses at the school health clinics and Hopelink dispatchers revealed that this can even include secret abortions for high school students during school hours, like the Ballard Teen Abortion Scandal earlier this year.

While HopeLink refuses to answer questions about these activities, many of their long-term supporters are Christians, and have been shocked to discover that they are supporting or working with such an organization.

One of these Christian groups is Bellevue's Westminster Chapel. The Church has helped Hopelink by furnishing Hopelink apartments for the Homeless and low income families. We understand that a couple involved in the leadership of this ministry has resigned after they learned of Hopelink's involvement in transporting women and young girls to abortion clinics.

We also understand that the church leadership is planning a meeting to discuss whether the church should continue this ministry considering their involvement in the abortion process.

When we attempted to contact HopeLink for reaction by email, they ignored us. We followed up with a phone call to their spokesman, Glen Miller. He brusquely hung up the phone on us, saying he had 'no comment'.

HopeLink may want to downplay their relationship with Westminster Chapel, but they actually featured them in one of their recent annual reports. They dedicated a whole page to Westminster's volunteer work, highlighting their long-time partnership.

HopeLink has also attempted to deflect questions about their abortion taxi service by simply telling donors and the public that they don't know what services women are going for when they take them to an abortion clinic like Planned Parenthood. The problem with that line is that they have to know what services a woman is going for so that they can provide the appropriate level of transport for her. They also have to confirm Medicaid eligibility, and eligibility for a Medicaid abortion is often quite different from qualifying for other Medicaid services.

We also confirmed with one of HopeLink's sister organizations in Yakima, People for People, that 90% of the time they know full well when they're taking someone for an abortion.

Rather than answering questions directly and honestly about their complicity in providing abortion taxis, their public relations "fix" has been to try to sweep the problem under the rug and to deflect attention away from the real questions:

• How many abortions has HopeLink helped procure?
• How many were done on teens during school hours without parental knowledge?
• And how can a "charitable" organization even think that this is an acceptable way to conduct their affairs.

It is time for HopeLink to come clean with their donors and supporters. Only then can they begin the process of rebuilding their reputation.