Constitution 1, Rob McKenna 0

Oops. Rob McKenna bet on the wrong side yesterday.  Rob McKenna believes allowing people to refuse to participate in murder is a violation of the Constitution and Judge Leighton smacked him down.

Court upholds pro-life pharmacists’ objections to dispensing abortifacient contraceptives.

We applaud the court's decision because it was the right one. AIW was at many of the Board of Pharmacy hearings and covered the controversy in-depth. We provided the only public reporting on the incestuous business relationships between Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, the UW School of Pharmacy/Don Downing, Barr Labs, the Board of Pharmacy and the governor of Washington. ALL of them colluded against pharmacists (and others) who said, "Plan B kills and we don't want to be part of it."  Specifically, they targeted Christians and people of conscience.

WE TOLD YOU SO. And the court agrees with US. He sent everyone involved in the selling and promotion of the snake-oil known as Plan B out the door.

Contraceptive pushers and Big Pharma continue to lie about safety of contraceptives

I got this unusual piece of spam last night. It read:
Severe Side Effects of YAZ Yasmin and Ocella
Important Lawsuit Info
Birth Control Injury Alert!

I knew there were ongoing lawsuits against these pill makers but decided to do a search to see what was up.

Searching on these terms given in the email provides a plethora of legal websites offering help.

I discovered at one site that at least 50 women had died from using these pills. I was most interested to learn that Bayer was reprimanded by the FDA for false and misleading advertising; the same thing manufacturers of Plan B were reprimanded for.

Read more for yourself here:
http://www.yaz-birthcontrol-lawsuit-news.com/YazSideEffects.html

Seems like all these people can do is lie to women to make a buck. I wonder if they figure in the cost of lawsuits when they price these drugs.

How bad is it?

If the goverment can make a person sell something.

And the government can also make someone else buy something.

Does that mean the government can force people to sell abortions and other people to buy them?

Just asking.

Rossi - Didier Fight Creates Controversy over who is Pro-life

If you haven't  been following the race for the GOP slot to challenge Patty Murray, now is the time to get up to speed.

First see the ads by Washington Life coalition here and here.

Then read the response from Joe Fuiten of Cedar Park Church and Dan Kennedy of Human Life of Washington.

Then read the response to Fuiten and Kennedy from state Rep. Val Stevens.

The two biggest problems are with Fuiten's response that, 1. The bill was not about abortion and that "emergency contraception" doesn't cause an abortion. And 2. Dan Kennedy's claim that the WSCC signed off on the bill because they believed that conception would not occur in the time period provided in the bill.

Fuiten needs to read up on on "emergency contraception" and contraception in general. Both can prevent implantation of an embryo. This is called an abortion and results in the death of a human being.

As far as the WSCC and Sr. Sharon go, how in the world do Sr. Sharon and the Catholic bishops know when conception will occur? It's a completely ludicrous and absolutely illogical reason for supporting this bill.

Anyone who has had much experience with Sr. Sharon knows that defending Dino Rossi by citing Sr. Sharon Park is a little like defending Bart Stupak and the foolish "pro-life" democrats by citing Sr. Carol Keehan of the Catholic Health Association. Wouldn't exactly be my choice for a CYA in ethics but hey, in politics I guess you take what you can get.

Pro-lifers have long been suspicious of Sr. Sharon Park and I dare say that any of them look the the WSCC for leadership on legislation or action on anything pro-life related. The story of that organization, the past several bishops and the lay and religious people who run the Archiocese of Seattle is one for another day, but let's just say that the pro-life cause is just not on their agenda. Anyone who has been around pro-life work for even a very limited amount of time, say a day or two, realizes that they are NOT the go-to people as the culture circles the drain.

In this whole mess there's also the interesting fact that with SB 6537 all the other pro-life legislators in the state were able to figure out that this was a bad bill. Why didn't Dino Rossi?

Now the FDA has approved Ella, the "week after pill". That is certain to also be classified as so-called emergency contraception. Maybe Sr. Sharon can look into her crystal ball and see if any women will conceive during that time period.

Meanwhile the damage as been done and Dino Rossi did nothing to try and stop it.

A Matter of Conscience

The Washington Life Coalition (WLC) released a brand new internet video today to appeal to pro-life voters in the state of Washington who have been led to believe they should support Dino Rossi in his bid for U.S. Senate. The video chronicles some of Rossi's statements on the issue of abortion, and then reveals an egregious vote that Rossi cast as a state senator, overlooked by the pro-life movement in Washington. The news of this vote calls into question Rossi on an issue he refers to as "a matter of conscience".

In 2002, Dino Rossi voted for SB 6537 which forces hospitals to promote emergency contraception to rape victims and provide it upon request within 72 hours of sexual contact. Emergency contraception, also known as "the morning after pill", causes an abortion if the woman is pregnant. The bill passed and is now the law in WA state. Physicians, nurses and healthcare workers in hospital emergency rooms are forced to act against their conscience, which is formed by their professional training as well as their moral, ethical and religious views.

WLC is a coalition of pro-life activists who are concerned with electing representatives in government who will uphold the unalienable rights of all: the rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. WLC encourages pro-life voters to take a close look at the other candidates in the U.S. Senate race, as well as with all races for public office, to find person(s) with the will to advance the cause of restoring these unalienable rights for all.

Washington State Capitulates, Recognizes Pharmacists' Conscience Rights

Something for the "We told you so file":

From the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Jul 7, 2010

Washington State Capitulates, Recognizes Pharmacists' Conscience Rights

This afternoon, less than two weeks before the start of a civil rights trial in Tacoma federal court, attorneys for the State of Washington told a federal judge that the State would seek to create new rules for pharmacists with conscientious objections. The new regulations would give the plaintiffs in the lawsuit--the owners of Ralph's Thriftway pharmacy and two pharmacists--what they've wanted all along: the right to refuse to stock or dispense Plan B (the so-called "morning after pill") based on their conscientious objection.

Read more...

DSHS Holds Regular Planning Meetings with Abortion Providers, Divulges Names of Citizen Watchdogs

Would you expect that if you file a request with the state government as to how much an organization is receiving in state funds that the government would disclose your name to the organization in question?

Well, if you're dealing with the Take Charge Family Planning program at the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), that's apparently what you should expect.

In 2008, we submitted a complaint to the Attorney General's office regarding the late-term abortion clinic chain known as Cedar River Clinics. In the response to that complaint, Cedar River director Beverly Whipple indicated that she knew this writer had requested information from DSHS about payments (tax dollars) to her organization.

There is no way Ms. Whipple should have known this.

We had filed a "Public Disclosure" request with DSHS to find out how much money DSHS had given to Cedar River in previous years in the form of Medicaid insurance payments.

(Cedar River Clinics does abortions up to 24 weeks, and even does secret abortions on teenage girls spirited out of other states without their parents' knowledge.)

While there may not be an absolute legal guarantee of privacy in such cases, most would expect that their name wouldn't be passed along to the organization under scrutiny. At least not without some sort of consequence.

We confronted a DSHS official about this. Her answers were woefully inadequate, and mostly incoherent.

One of her arguments was that it was good for organizations receiving government money to know that there are individuals keeping them accountable. She couldn't explain why that required the citizen's actual name from being disclosed.

She then suggested that the name might have been disclosed inadvertently at one of the "regular meetings" that this official, on behalf of DSHS, holds with the state's "family planning" agencies.

These meetings apparently include the Cedar River Clinic abortion chain, and the Planned Parenthood affiliates of Washington, including PP of Central Washington (which does what amount to coerced abortions), and PP of Spokane (which has been illegally overbilling Medicaid for years), and PP of Western Washington (which is doing 50% more abortions than it was just 3 years ago, while making millions of dollars in profits off emergency contraception).

We didn't know about these meetings, and this certainly didn't qualify as an excuse.

The bottom line was that this official seemed unperturbed by the privacy violation, and while she claimed she would "look into it", there have been no developments from "this investigation". And we don't expect any.

What we have learned is that the government (DSHS) admits to holding regular strategy meetings with the abortion industry to see how they can help each other, and these meetings include chit-chat, with private details, about members of the public who might be getting in their way. Ladies and gentlemen: welcome to the Land of Gregoire.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

NARAL Director Admits Abortion is Hard for Women, Hangs Up Without Explaining Why

By Jonathan B.
On February 13, as reported here, NARAL Pro-Choice Washington (NPCW) announced the results of an investigation into Washington pharmacies not selling the so-called "morning after pill," also known as Plan B. They presented their findings as a crisis because 10% of drug stores in the state chose not to provide the potentially embryo-destroying pharmaceutical.

AIW spoke to NPCW's executive director, Karen Cooper, about their concerns.

"Retail Choice"
Ms. Cooper initially claimed that the goal of her campaign is simply to ensure all pharmacies obey the new Board of Pharmacy rules “which say that pharmacists must provide this drug to any patient who asks for it."

Ms. Cooper appeared to be unaware of the fact that this rule was no longer in effect due to an injunction from U.S. District Court Judge Ronald B. Leighton, on November 8 of last year, who declared it a violation of constitutional rights, and just reaffirmed last week. Such ignorance seems inexplicable since NPCW was involved in the appeal of the ruling.

Also, when pushed, Ms. Cooper admitted that their motives went beyond benign rule enforcement, since her group had actively lobbied for the creation of the unconstitutional rule in the first place. In fact, acting Governor Christine Gregoire appointed a former NPCW board member, Vandana Slatter, to the Board of Pharmacy last Fall prior to the finalization of the new rule.

Some have argued that it is hypocritical for an organization calling itself "Pro-Choice Washington" to be actively trying to coerce pharmacists, to take away their freedom to choose. Ms. Cooper described such views as "ridiculous".

"We don't see that as a contradiction at all. There's no analogy there whatsoever. One is a personal choice, the other is a retail choice." She declined to elaborate on the philosophical and historical underpinnings of this distinction.

Ms. Cooper said frictionless access to emergency contraception was such an important a cause for them "because of the importance of reducing the rate of unintended pregnancies."

But what interest does an abortion organization have in reducing the number of unintended pregnancies? Ms. Cooper laughed loudly (and somewhat nervously) at the question.

While hearing the question repeated, Ms. Cooper interrupted after the word 'abortion': "Listen, this isn't an abortion pill, it's a birth control pill," she asserted authoritatively. She repeated the point for emphasis, clearly irritated at this stage.

When asked if the medication works sometimes by preventing implantation of a human embryo, as stated for example by Dr. Bruce Carlson in "Human Embryology and Developmental Biology," Ms. Cooper claimed that "nobody knows," sounding decidedly less authoritative. "It might work that way," she admitted when pushed.

"Abortion is a Very Hard Thing For Women"
Returning to the previous question, AIW pressed for an answer to why an abortion group would be so determined to prevent unplanned pregnancies to the point that it would try to take away choices from pharmacists in the process – especially for a group which believes abortion should be legal through all nine months of pregnancy, by any procedure, for any reason, at any age, without delay, at taxpayers' expense, and without apology.

This was met with a long silence, followed by a nervous confession that "abortion is a very hard thing for women emotionally", quickly adding "a very hard decision."

Repeatedly during the interview Ms. Cooper tried to end the phone call insisting that there were people waiting for her in a meeting. It was clear these were not questions she was keen on answering. Early in the interview she became hostile and argumentative. After responding to this last question, clearly uncomfortable, she hung up.

As a result, we were unable to discover what it is about abortion that makes it such a difficult decision for women. If it's just the removal of a blob of tissue, why should it be so hard?

Unanswered Questions
We were also unable to ask her what data NARAL is relying on in its unstated but fundamental assumption that emergency contraception reduces the rate of unplanned pregnancies. In a study published January 2007 in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, a review of 23 studies discovered that there hasn't been a single study anywhere in the world showing a correlation between availability or use of emergency contraception and reduced pregnancy or abortion rates.

Indeed, as reported here and here, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington has gone from selling 0 EC kits per year to selling a staggering 120,000, but during this time the number of abortions performed by them has risen 11% per year. We would have liked to have asked Ms. Cooper if she was completely unaware of all scholarship on this matter, or if rather her organization was being abjectly dishonest. (For more on PP of WW see our archive of articles here.)

Finally, if these pills don’t reduce the rate of unintended pregnancy and may even increase it, and if this group actually considers abortion as morally inconsequential as a tonsillectomy, what is their true motivation in this campaign?

More importantly, if Karen Cooper and NARAL acknowledge that abortion is a very difficult event for women, why is this the first we’ve ever heard this admission from them? What makes it so difficult? Why have they never mentioned any of the specific difficulties involved? Why can’t one find anything about this on their website? And why do they oppose every single possible regulation designed to protect women at such a vulnerable and difficult time from making the wrong decision?

Judge Leighton Sides with Pharmacists and Public...Again

Judge won't lift suspension on Plan B sale requirement

And a few observations from those in the courtroom today:

The judge said that the rule seemed to be motivated by something other than sincere concern for access to medication;

He said that the rule was clearly targeting opponents to Plan B and not medications in general (as asserted by the Defendants);

He remarked that his bailiff was battling cancer and had to go to three pharmacies before he was able to get his prescription filled and asked if the BOP would consider this a violation of the rule.

Smart man. These are points we have been arguing all along. Let us also remind everybody that no pharmacist wants to deny patients legitimate health care. Pharmacists want the right to be able to consult and converse with their patients about any drug the patient is taking and at the same time don't want to be forced to give out a drug that may kill a tiny embryo before it has a chance to implant.

Award for worst reporting on this story goes to...the AP and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. No surprise there. See how many errors and instances of bias reporting you can spot.

Update 2/21/08 from another courtroom observer: One other thing he said (and I hope the press takes note) is that he is absolutely amazed that the coverage of this case never mentions the Constitution. And...To those who say that pharmacists who don’t want to dispense Plan B should find another profession, I say: Citizens who disagree with the US Constitution should find another country which does not protect religious freedom. China, Cuba, and N. Korea come to mind, but there are many others.

WSPA Response to NARAL’s 2008 Emergency Contraception Access Project Report

Just to bring everybody up to speed, you can read here, here and here about the latest in the Plan B/denial of First Amendment Rights to pharmacists.

Now the Washington State Pharmacy Association has issued a statement in response to NARAL's "survey".

Quite frankly, NARAL and Barr Labs wouldn't have gotten as far as they have in pushing Plan B in this state and stiffling the First Amendment Rights of our pharmacists if the WSPA hadn't gotten into bed with them in the first place. So yes, I have a beef with the WSPA though I appreciate their statement slamming NARAL. WSPA was stupid if they thought they could partner with NARAL (these people are in the baby killing business, folks) to push an immoral and unhealthy drug (it's not medicine) in this state and not have people get hurt.

The WSPA should not be "committed to increasing patient access to emergency contraception" and should be fighting tooth and nail against NARAL’s claim that Plan B is somehow the equivalent of a blood transfusion.

Adding insult to injury, the WSPA continues to promote the idea that this drug is helping to prevent abortions. What poppycock!

In regard to this particular "survey", it is irrelevant if the "lack of access" is 10% or 100% -- people shouldn't be forced to do anything against their will or that violates their conscience. The so-called law the Board of Pharmacy passed essentially makes moral thoughts and actions a crime. Is that the kind of country you want to live in?

So thank you WSPA for standing up to the abortion lobby but please take it to the next step and cease your unholy alliance with an industry that is hurting women, men, children, and families.

Here's the full statement from WSPA:

The Washington State Pharmacy Association is appalled by the sloppy data collection process and inaccurate conclusions about pharmacists reached in NARAL’s 2008 Emergency Contraception Access Project Report.

The data NARAL released is littered with errors, out-of-date information and inaccuracies, including:
· The report marked about 30 pharmacy locations two different colored flags, indicating that they both stock Plan B and do not stock Plan B.
· Some pharmacies listed are out-of- business or have changed ownership.
· Since the report was released, some pharmacies’ flags have changed color.
· Many pharmacies listed as not stocking Plan B have not had any patient demand for the medication but would stock it if their patients asked for it.
· Some pharmacies were assumed to be an access risk because they employ a pharmacist who refuses to dispense it. But these pharmacies staff multiple pharmacists per shift to ensure their patients receive their medications.
· We have confirmed many pharmacies that were reported as not stocking Plan B actually do so.

WSPA is committed to increasing patient access to emergency contraception and does not dispute NARAL’s claim that women should be able to access their medications. If NARAL wanted to help patients gain access, they would work with healthcare providers to identify and promote opportunities to access emergency contraception. Instead NARAL has chosen to broadcast inaccurate survey results which erroneously paints a picture of an access crisis that simply does not exist.

NARAL’s recent survey results are an assault on the credibility of hundreds of Washington’s pharmacists. NARAL’s irresponsible accusations erode the patient-pharmacist relationship that is an integral part of the healthcare system. Any disruption of this relationship puts patients at risk. If even one patient hesitates to seek care from a pharmacy because of these false reports, NARAL has done great harm.

Jeff Rochon, Pharm.D.
Director of Professional Development
Washington State Pharmacy Association

Longview Planned Parenthood Closed for Good; Asking for too Much Money, Un-Wanted Services Says Commissioner

By Jonathan B.
Pro-lifers were excited last February when they found out that Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) had decided to shutter their clinic in Longview. But cheer turned to concern when it was later revealed, first in March, then again in July, that the Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners was in negotiations with PPWW to reopen the clinic, and was considering paying their rent, as well as providing other financial sweeteners from their tax-funded treasury.

AIW can now reveal, however, that all negotiations with PPWW and Cowlitz County are dead, and the county has severed all dealings with the state’s largest abortion chain. Commissioner Kathleen Johnson told AIW that there is now no PPWW office in Longview, the county gives no money to PPWW, and there is no relationship of any sort between Cowlitz County and the abortion provider.

It appears that what happened, according to the Commissioner, was that PPWW kept asking for more and more money from the county, reportedly up to $10,000 per year, and then they insisted on offering their high-margin services which the county wasn’t interested in, e.g., birth control, emergency contraception. (As reported on this blog, PPWW makes millions of dollars every year and most of its profits from Take Charge clients and sales of the “Plan B” morning after pill.)

The county, on the other hand, is dealing with an STD outbreak, and high teen pregnancy rates (7th highest in the state), and was looking for a health care partner willing to focus its efforts on those problems. Despite the public image it has so successfully cultivated, PPWW was not sufficiently interested in providing services with that focus, said Commissioner Johnson. She also said they wanted a provider which would care for pregnant women the traditional way, i.e., helping both patients, the mother and the unborn child. As PPWW spokesman Brian Cutler told us in a previous interview, “if a woman plans to keep her baby, she’s probably not going to come to Planned Parenthood.”

AIW spoke with Mr. Cutler about the Longview clinic negotiations. When asked if PPWW was only interested in providing high margin services, and not those being asked for by the community, he said it was “ridiculous, ludicrous.”

“Listen,” he added, “I don’t know where you got this idea that we’re in this to make money. We are a non-profit, a 501c3.” He didn’t, however, dispute the details of the charge.

Show Me The Money
One of the more striking elements of the entire situation has been PPWW’s undisputed claim from the start that it couldn’t afford to keep the Longview clinic open, when it has grown its annual revenue from close to $17 million per year in 2000, to over $32 million now, with $36 million in the bank.

PPWW’s 2006 Annual Report shows a profit of over $1 million on revenue of over $37 million. Their tax return for the previous year showed a $3.3 million operating profit. Yet they were still demanding Cowlitz County cough up first $400/month in rent (or about $5,000 per year), and then $10,000/year.

Christine Charbonneau, president of PPWW, wrote a guest column in the Longview Daily News, dated March 4, 2007, titled “PP forced into tough decision.” In the piece, she explicitly claimed that they had no choice to close the clinic, because they were “unable” to absorb the costs, and even had the temerity to use the opportunity to urge readers to lobby the state to provide PPWW with even more taxpayers’ money.

I asked Mr. Cutler if PPWW had lied to Cowlitz County about its finances.

That was followed by a full one minute silence. Finally he said: “I’m sure people above me in the organization made a careful, well-considered decision. I don’t know.”

(He subsequently explained via email that some of the organization’s $36 million in assets are endowments which are restricted by “by-laws” in how they can be used, though the interest can be used for operations, and it can be and has been borrowed against for clinic construction.)

“Abortion Services”
I also asked about two “inaccuracies” on the the PPWW Longview webpage. First, it still says that it is “temporarily” closed, even though negotiations officially ended by November 2007. Secondly, and more alarming, the webpage says that the Longview clinic offers “Abortion Services”.

I inquired about a year ago whether this was true. The official response from PPWW was that this was a mistake and would be remedied shortly, with gratitude expressed for bringing the error to their attention. I pointed out to Mr. Cutler that PPWW makes much of providing accurate information to its clients, but he responded to both issues that it was simply an innocent mistake and that the organization hadn’t gotten around to updating the page yet.

Interestingly, the first bullet point in PPWW’s 2005 Annual Report was that they had spent thousands of dollars on a new high-tech internet portal which, they bragged, “now gives important, real-time information to more unduplicated patients than the nearly 850 health centers around the country combined.”

Treating the STDs Outbreak
When the Longview clinic closed, PPWW spokesmen suggested this would be a tremendous deficit for the area because of the STD problem. Cowlitz Commissioners George Raiter and Axel Swanson publicly concurred. I asked Mr. Cutler if he could provide any studies or research to back up this assumption, that PPWW’s presence in a community was correlated with declining rates of STDs.

Nothing came immediately to mind, but he did send me via email some statistics which he said showed STD rates going down during the Clinton Administration and up during the Bush era, which has emphasized abstinence. Interestingly, this data showed gonorrhea rates in Cowlitz County jumping from about 15 cases per 100,000 in 2003 to 230 in 2006. Chlamydia rates followed a similar trend. PPWW opened its Longview clinic in 2003.

Finding an Alternative to Drive-By Women’s Health Care
AIW also spoke with Carlos Carreon, director of the Cowlitz County Public Health Department. Mr. Carreon was directly involved in most of the direct negotiations with PPWW last year. While reluctant to speak to the more controversial elements which Commissioner Johnson cited, Mr. Carreon did say that after months of ultimately fruitless discussions with PPWW, it just struck him that there was a much better way to provide residents with high quality health care.

“It was sort of an ‘Oh-duh’ moment,” he said frankly. “That’s not an official health policy term,” he added self-deprecatingly. Instead of trying so hard to fit a square peg in a round hole, he realized it would make far more sense to partner with the Family Health Center, a local non-profit health care provider with full-time M.D’s and R.N’s to serve as the clients’ primary care providers and able to establish a long-term medical relationship.

This contrasts with PPWW’s clinic which would parachute an R.N. once a week from upstate to walk-in clients without any long-term relationship. (Finding a local R.N. willing to work full-time for Planned Parenthood was proving impossible.) “This was just a superior model of care,” he explained.

Mr. Carreon noted that they still don’t have a handle on the source of the STD outbreak, including whether or not it is localized to a certain community, like the prison population, and until they have determined the cause, it’s premature to start talking about the correct cure. For instance, a walk-in PP clinic is not going to have a significant impact on a prison-based STD problem.

Political Pressure?
In contrast, PPWW’s Brian Cutler told AIW that one of the major reasons for the failure of negotiations with the county was political pressure. “Cowlitz County is a very conservative part of our state,” he said, even though the county voted 56%-40% for Maria Cantwell over Mike McGavick in 2006. “While some of the county commissioners supported our presence in Longview, significant political pressure was applied to keep the doors of our health center there from re-opening.”

Commissioner Johnson strongly disputed this idea. “That’s a very interesting comment,” she told AIW. “The issue for us was always: how could we get the best contract for the services needed in this county (reducing STDs and caring for pregnant mothers). Planned Parenthood was not willing to provide the services we wanted.” She added that the only “political pressure” they ever received was a single citizen who occasionally turned up at council meetings (Jerry Ross) and some pro-life form letters “from Texas”.

“We are just happy that the citizens of Cowlitz County are in some way getting the services they need,” concluded Mr. Cutler.

Don Downing Continues to Push Plan B

This from a January 2008 Oregon NARAL email:

Emergency Contraception Access Update

NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon had our seventh pharmacist training on November 15, 2007 in Salem. More than 50 pharmacists attended the course, which was facilitated by Donald Downing, professor of pharmacy at the University of Washington. His presentation covered the details of what emergency contraception (EC) is, why EC is necessary, and how the medication works from a clinical perspective. More than 350 pharmacists have now taken part in these EC trainings since the beginning of 2007. The EC training module we created is being replicated in Washington and North Carolina. We are proud of this training program and look forward to providing more trainings in the future.

Don Downing continues his work, lining his pockets with money from the abortion industry, claiming all the while that he's helping to reduce the abortion rate.

For more on Don Downing see here.

Local Clergy Promote State Imposed Morality

Coming on the heels of Pope Benedict's statement that moral relativism is at 'emergency' levels, this "guest columnist" piece, entitled Denial of Contraception is Immoral, appeared in the Seattle Times.

The "emergency" to which the Holy Father referred was the growth of relativism. Young people, he said, find it difficult to develop "firm certainties and criteria upon which to build their lives." This failure of moral guidance, the Pope said, threatens "the very basis of coexistence and the future of society."

Well, duh. When you have a bunch of no-nothings like Catherine Fransson and Jamal Rahman basically promoting the idea that one's personal opinion is to be the final arbiter for right and wrong, you are going to have confused people making bad, harmful decisions.

What is truly frightening about this group of "clergy" is that they take it one step further and actually push for the legislation of morality. It's a twisted morality but it is nonetheless a demand that the State, through the force of law, make others conform to their opinion about morality.

Fr. Frank Schuster makes this point in a response in a letter to the editor:

By way of analogy: Are we ready to give government greater power to tell clerics what we can teach our people and what we can't? What if the state told all faith communities to hand out literature some of us fundamentally disagreed with? I don't know of many clerics who would like the state to go down that road.

Amen, Father.

They don't say it in the article but these two "clergy" are undoubtedly part of Planned Parenthood's posse of "religious leaders" who will do their bidding on an as needed basis.

Planned Parenthood of Western Washington Answers Our Questions, Explains Thriving Abortion Business

[Ed. Note: This interview and story provided by Jonathan B.]

No-one does more to reduce the need for abortions than Planned Parenthood.

Or at least that's what Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW) spokesman Brian Cutler told Abortion In Washington when asked about the 11% jump in the number of abortions performed by the organization for the second year straight.

Indeed, that view is shared by many PPWW supporters in the region, from Christine Gregoire to Bill Gates.

But PPWW's latest annual report, for 2006, seems to suggest the opposite.

The fact is, as AIW readers know, times have rarely been better for PPWW. Whether it’s money in the bank ($36 million), annual revenues ($32 million), number of clinics (~23), or executive salaries ($250,000/year), PPWW has been living large since George W. Bush took office in 2000.

And yet PPWW's annual report shows that they did 7,780 abortions in 2006, compared with 7,023 in 2005, and 6,291 in 2004, an amazing 11% growth each year. This despite reaching near record numbers of clients with their "prevention" and "education" programs.

I asked Mr. Cutler if these were 'good times' for PPWW financially.

He said no. The 'money in the bank' isn't just cash they can use on any project they want, he added. Some of it is “endowments”, the rest requires an order from the board to be released. He said they can't just draw on that money for regular expenses, but rather, “it can only be used for things like building a new building.”

I asked why PPWW claimed earlier this year – to public officials no less – that it had shuttered its Longview clinic because it “couldn't afford to keep it open” if the $36 million in the bank can be used for building new buildings? "I'm not sure why that is", Mr. Cutler said. (In fact, the Cowlitz County board announced a plan to use taxpayers’ money to keep the clinic open, based on PPWW’s public representation of its finances.)

In addition to “having to” close the Longview clinic, along with the Port Orchard clinic, he said this last year had actually been tough because the number of patients seen has gone down since last year, and Medicaid reimbursements were down from 2005 also (because of some restrictions from Congress disallowing Medicaid for illegal aliens). They even had to lay off 29 full time employees.

Notwithstanding a slight dip in revenues from 2005-2006, PPWW has grown rapidly over the last 8 years, doubling revenues, assets, clinics, clients served, etc. So I asked why the number of abortions has gone up even though they now have so much more money, have so many clinic locations, and are seeing so many more clients than 5-7 years ago with their “prevention” programs and contraception sales.

For example, in 2004, PPWW reach 30,799 individuals with their sexuality education. That jumped an extraordinary 50% by 2006, to 45,230. Surely the more well funded PPWW is, the more people they reach, the fewer abortions there will be. Isn’t that the PPWW promise?

Mr. Cutler explained the apparently devastating correlation by claiming that their abortion business was booming not because of their programs and influence, but because they were offering easier access to medical abortions (RU-486) and abortions in general. [Ed. note: these are being provided by Advanced Registered Nurse Practicioners (ARNP), not licenced physicians.] You see, PPWW has been adding abortion services to many of their existing health centers. Surrounded by countless photos of seemingly giddy men and women, the 2006 annual report includes a section called “Increased Abortion Access”, which reads:

We continue to expand access by having medication abortions at 16 sites. Aspiration abortions are now offered in 8 health centers. In 2006, the Olympia Clinic became our seventh site to offer this service. In 2007, the Madison Clinic will become our eighth site offering aspiration abortions and will provide Saturday appointments as well.

I continued to push the issue: if PP's goal and plan is to reduce the need for abortions, yet with all this money and reach and clients the number of abortions is going up, doesn't this show that the programs and approach are failing and need to be immediately reevaluated?

He said no, and repeated that the number of abortions is up because of “increased access”.

He went through the standard PP spiel that “no-one does more to reduce the need for abortion than PP”, “PP is not pro-abortion”, and argued that if PP was pro-abortion they wouldn't provide birth control. He claimed they only make 5% of their revenue from abortion, and pointed out that the statewide abortion rate has been going steadily down, and attributed this to “better contraception & education”. [Ed. Note: Due to unbundling of services, 5% is a gross under calculation.]

"Our education and prevention programs are working." He said the rate of women with unplanned pregnancies who choose abortion has remained steady at 50%.

I responded with the obvious question: if you know that increasing access by opening more abortion clinics is going to increase the number of abortions, then isn't it effectively pro-abortion to be opening up as many abortion clinics as possible?

Rather than answer this directly, Mr. Cutler responded by pointing to a WHO study which claimed that the number of women who get abortions is independent of its (official) availability.

“So you’re saying that the number of abortions you’re doing has gone up because of increased access, but you’re also citing a study which says that access doesn’t change the abortion rate,” I pointed out. "Can you help me square that circle," I asked. He didn't have an answer.

Then I moved on to Emergency Contraception (EC). PP led the charge to get EC legalized and approved by the FDA, based on the promise that the drug would drastically reduce the need for abortion. [Ed. Note: PPWW was also an investor in the original company that developed the only EC drug currently on the market -- Plan B. See our articles and links to PPWW's involvement in pushing this drug throughout the state and efforts to deny pharmacists their First Amendment rights.] The 2006 annual report even claims: “Unrestricted access to EC is preventing many hundreds of unintended pregnancies and abortions every month.” Yet PPWW is now selling 122,427 EC packs a year compared to zero just three years earlier, and yet the number of abortions is up 11% each year from 2004. "I’m not really sure [why that is]", said Mr. Cutler. I then asked: "Wasn't EC supposed to reduce the number of abortions?"

"That's the hope... One would expect that.... but does that really matter?"

I then asked how much money they are making off EC sales, since they have a deal, according to records from California court proceedings, where they get them for $5 a pack, and then turn around and sell them for about $25 each to low-income clients. Mr. Cutler said PP has always needed to make some money off the sales of birth control to keep the doors open. I pointed out that they are reporting $9 million in profit of EC a year, from $0 profit four years ago, yet they managed to keep the doors open back then.

"I don't know," was his response. He also admitted that he didn't know how much they sold EC for or how much money they're making from it.

Interestingly, he also claimed that PPWW was not taking any money from the federal or state government for abortions. I told him that according to documents received from the DSHS, PPWW receives about $1.5 million a year from Olympia in Medicaid reimbursements for abortion. He said they were not. I told him I was quite sure of this and he would want to go back and check. "Well, that's as far as I know," he finished.

Finally, I pointed out that their number of abortions even as a percentage of pregnancy-related visits had been increasing over the last two years from 18% in 2004 to 25% in 2006. I asked if he knew why that might be.

"I don't know", he replied. He surmised that perhaps "if a woman already knew she wanted to put her baby up for adoption, she probably wouldn't come to Planned Parenthood." He added, "if a woman knew she wanted to carry her baby to term, she probably wouldn't come to Planned Parenthood."