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/

###

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.

Washington's Abortion Industry: A look ahead

The past year, 2007, was a banner year for the state's abortion industry. As recounted here, the industry finally solidified gains it had sought for at least a decade prior. Only the attempted denial of conscience rights as stated by the First Amendment to the US Constitution to pharmacists, and by extension all workers, has been stalled by a Federal District Court.

NARAL, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington and the ACLU among others, have however, appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The battle continues.

Furthermore, the abortion industry saw no roll-back in its hold on the levers of power at the state and county levels (judicial, legislative, and administrative branches, health departments, public health agencies, human rights department, etc.), in the education system, the media outlets, and elite opinion. The state of Washington continues to garner an A+ from NARAL, the abortion trade group. The decline in both the rate and number of abortions has stabilized. Meanwhile Planned Parenthood of Western Washington's profits rose approximately 11% each year since 1998.

So what's ahead for the industry? Here's a quick look.

More attacks on Conscience Rights, i.e. legislation of thought crimes.
For a variety of reasons the number of abortionists has declined in the last two decades. As the lack of abortionists continues to haunt the industry, the force of law will be brought to bear on those in the health care professions. People will be directly forced by employers or the state apparatuses to perform, refer for and support abortion and contraception.
Force training of doctors and nurses in abortion services.
Push for laws that further define sterilization, contraception and abortion as "health care" and do not allow for dissent in thought or action.

Move to Increased Use of Chemical Abortion.

As the original pre-Roe cadre of abortion doctors retires and dies, the industry will look to non-physician personnel -- nurses, pharmacists, physician aids -- to begin doing chemical and/or surgical abortions. Our state has already granted permission to nurses to administer chemical abortions and Arizona this week announced it will allow nurses to perform first trimester surgical abortions.

The public, ignorant by choice or chance, will look to chemical abortion as the "magic bullet" to solve the abortion wars and support its widespread use.

Prime the Pump: Increase demand for Abortion
With abortions down 20%, but still high in relative terms, profits are flat. A generation of post-abortive women and men who will support the industry with votes and dollars needs to be raised. The abortion industry will attempt to increase the number of out of wedlock and unwanted pregnancies. To do this they will promote sexual activity among teens and unmarried adults through school-based sex instruction and pornography.

Condoms, "emergency contraception" and reversible sterilization programs, i.e. pills, IUDs, the patch and Norplant implants will continue to be gateway products to Planned Parenthood's abortion services and sources of public and private revenue in their own right. An unquestioning and contraceptive addicted public will be told these devices are society's solution to abortion.

Planned Parenthood of Western Washington Emerges as Dominant Abortion Provider in State
PPWW continues to consolidate its monopoly as the state's primary subcontractor for abortion, sex instruction programs and state sponsored sterilization. Smaller abortion centers without the economies of scale and public relations and lobbying heft will be unable match Planned Parenthood's influence and marketing savvy. The Planned Parenthood brand will be presented to school children of all ages through the state mandated sex instruction program. Children will know how to call Planned Parenthood in the same way they know how to call 911. Smaller one-man abortion centers like Aradia will go out of business.

Exploitation of Women Continues
With no legal requirements for the monitoring or investigation of problems inside abortion facilities and a state health department unwilling to take a hard look at the havoc abortion is having on women's health, the exploitation of women by the abortion industry and those who support it continues into the foreseeable future. With pressure from employers, the state, society, and boyfriends/husbands/parents, the poor, teens, recent immigrants and those living on the margins will turn to abortion as the solution to their problems.

Story Update

Update on our story about former Abortionist Dr. Levine: A local priest has agreed to offer a Mass for Dr. Levine.

Please continue your prayers for Dr. Levine.

Another Seattle Abortionist Behind Bars

Here's one for the "Quack" file.

The Problems With Dr. Juice: Botched abortions, extortion, steroid trafficking, and a pool table in the exam room were just the beginning.

The pro-abortion Seattle Weekly published an article this week about former abortionist Dr. Howard Levine who was sentenced to prison for almost two years this past February. "Levine had pleaded guilty to a single count of illegal steroid trafficking, one of thousands of mostly Internet-based steroid sales he made to customers across the United States since at least 2004, prosecutors say, including some to undercover bodybuilders from the Drug Enforcement Agency."

Before he was involved in illegal steroid trafficking, Dr. Levine was an abortionist at Women's Health Care Center in Seattle in the early '80s. He only completed study at New York Medical College in Valhalla and was first licensed in 1979 so it would appear that an abortion practice was one of his first stops upon gaining his license.

Things went down hill from there.

In the 90s at "least nine patients accused him of violations ranging from verbal abuse and refusal to don surgical gloves to perforating the uteruses of several patients who later required emergency surgery—in one case, a lifesaving hysterectomy."

By 1999 he and his wife divorced and Dr. Levine turned to homosexual sex, prescribing Viagra over the Internet, and extortion and wire fraud.

Finally, on June 17, 2007, which interestingly is also Father's Day, (A triger date?), "Levine's 20-year-old son called police to the doctor's drug-strewn house on 14th Avenue, where the 58-year-old Levine was threatening suicide. [A] police inventory turned up thousands of pills and drug vials around the house. He wound up in a mental ward, committed for 14 days at Harborview Medical Center. At the hospital, a toxicology screen showed he'd shot meth and swallowed uppers and downers."

Here's what one person left in the Reader Comments box about Dr. Levine:

This article does not BEGIN to tell the story of his crazed behavior. The line "...recently resorted to having sex with multiple partners..." is crazy. Howard was online cruising for sex constantly. He has spent the past decade screwing around with any man he could find, including the porn stars and rentboys he worked with (a missing piece of this article is that Howard provided drugs to dozens of porn stars around the country). He was out at the bars nearly every night of the week trolling for sex.

What. Absolute. Despair.

Even worse, this man doesn't appear to have a friend in the world. The people quoted in the article saying they will stand by him seem clueless about depths of this man's utter darkness and hopelessness. Why did no one stop him from getting into abortion? Or, better yet, who encouraged him to get into the abortion business in the first place? Does he have anyone he can truly confide in? Do the people at NARAL and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington know how badly one of their own is hurting? Do they care?

Abortion kills babies. It hurts women and it hurts abortionists.

Please pray for Dr. Levine.

Fr. Tom Euteneuer to Visit Seattle Area

In one of the most exciting pro-life events of the year, Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer President of Human Life International will be speaking at St. Mark's Parish in Shoreline. All are welcome. You do not need to be Catholic to attend this event. See below for details.

Living the Gospel of Life

Two Day Retreat
St. Mark Parish in Shoreline

Friday evening talk
May 23, 2008 7:30 pm

Saturday, May 24
9 am Mass in St. Mark Church
10 am – 4 pm conference (lunch served)
St. Mark Parish Gym (across street from church)

Freewill donations appreciated

Please RSVP
(especially for lunch on Saturday!!!)

Call (206) 546-3923 or email: mgulrich@juno.com

The mission of HLI is to promote and defend the sanctity of life and family around the world according to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church -- teachings which repect the dignity of every person regardless of their religion or lack of religion -- through prayer, service and education. With 99 satellite offices in 80 countries, Human Life International is the largest international, pro-life, pro-family, pro-woman organization in the world.


St. Mark Parish - 18033 15th Place NE - Shoreline, WA
206-364-7900

Local "Non-Profit" Abortionists: Making a Killing

By Jonathan B.
Below is a listing of the salaries for some of the top employees of Washington's largest chain of abortion centers -- Planned Parentood -- and the Cedar River Clinic. Remember your tax dollars go to pay the salaries of these people, which makes them essentially sub-contractors for the state.

Wow. Look at those numbers! We've got a suggested recruitment tagline for the local abortion industry: "It may be killing, but it's one heck of a living!"

Planned Parenthood of Western Washington

Christine Charbonneau	CEO	$259,418
R. Campbell McIntyre	VP, Med. Affairs	$243,626
Michael Romo	COO	$206,185
Mary Grinnell	CFO	$170,705
Lucile K. Arendt	VP, Ext Affairs	$148,565
Carole Williams	VP, HR	$129,615
Stephen McCallister	VP, IT	$119,615
Anna Kaminski**	Asst. Med. Dir	$118,063

Planned Parenthood of Central Washington

Anna Franks	CEO	$127,000
Sarah Cate	Med. Dir.	$101,420
Elizabeth Bianchi	Part Time Abortionist	$97,905 (NOTE: This is for just 12 hours a week!)
Karl Eastlund	COO	$92,700

Planned Parenthood of Spokane

Penny M. Palmer	MD/FT	$144,102
Elizabeth Bianchi	PT Abortionist	$102,290 (NOTE: Same woman as part time for Central Wa. Hours for Spokane not listed)

Cedar River Clinics

Dr. Robert L. Kothenbeutel	Full Time Abortionist	$327,390
Dr. Charlie Browne	Full Time Abortionist	$156,050
Beverly Whipple	Founder & CEO	$71,346

(**a.k.a. The papaya abortionist.)


Isn't it time to get the profit motive out of the abortion industry? All of the above are "non-profits". Just how much sacrifice do you think is involved for these individuals? Do we really want a society where an individual can make a very comfortable full-time career doing (or arranging) abortions?

NOTE: All salaries include benefit plan contributions, not just salary total compensation. Numbers are from 2005 and 2006. Names in blood red are for those we know or are almost certain are actually involved in bringing beautiful, innocent lives to an end with their own hands.

Planned Parenthood Advocate Geoff Simpson Arrested

One of our least favorite legislators Geoff Simpson has been arrested on domestic violence charges, specifically for "Assault, Fourth Degree" and "Interfering w/Reporting of Domestic Violence."

Simpson has been an avid supporter of Planned Parenthood and seems to be fond of picking on the little guy, i.e. trying to deny pharmacists their First Amendment rights.

I do worry about anyone who holds this much anger and aggression toward women. Is there something in Geoff Simpson's past that would make him love Planned Parenthood and hate women? Or maybe he hates himself. Please pray for Geoff Simpson.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.]

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?

Pro-lifer Brad Klippert to Run for State Legislature

Great news for pro-lifers in Washington state and the GOP!

Brad Klippert is challenging incumbent Shirley Hankins for the Republican nomination in the 8th District for the state House of Representatives. Brad ran in the primary against self-described "pro-choice" Republican candidate Mike McGavick for the U.S. Senate in 2006.

I first met Brad when he called to ask me how he could let voters know that he was 100% pro-life, no exceptions. He wants every child and mother protected from abortion.

I ran into him at the It's About Life Conference over the weekend and was fortunate to be able to have lunch with him. When he told me he was running I could barely stay in my seat. I called Michelle McIntyre at Life of the Party as soon as I could.

His opponent Shirley Hankins is, according to this liberal blog and commenter, "solidly pro-choice and has supported all of the domestic partnership legislation..." In other words, she's a Democrat. She's also a board member and sponsor of the pro-abortion group Washington Mainstream Republicans. As we've pointed out on this blog before, there is nothing "mainstream" about killing children.

Please help support Brad's candidacy. Brad is an honest man who knows the difference between serving the public and killing the public.

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.

Baby Saved Outside Bellingham Vigil Site

Yesterday, a woman who was 4 months pregnant decided against aborting her child after talking with Kathy St.Hilaire during the morning hours.

Washington State 40 Days for Life Vigils Get off to Great Start

I was at the Issaquah location for the first day of the 40 Days for Life Campaign. I made some new friends and started Lent off right. Please join in at one of the campaigns listed below.

40 Days for Life - Spring 2008
This Lenten season six communities around the state are holding 40 Days for Life campaigns as part of the National Campaign that started on February 6th. I hope that you will each take the time to join in prayer, fasting, vigil and outreach this Lent!

Vigil Locations
Issaquah - website - email
Kitsap - website - email
Bellingham - website - email
Tacoma - website - email
Olympia - website - email
Spokane - website - emailFor more information on any of these locations, please checkout their websites or visit the national website to find out more about 40 Days for Life
Make one of these campaigns part of your Lenten tradition this year

Operation Rolling Thunder - more information - website
This is a prayer movement that is focused on bringing constant prayer (sound familiar?) to the churches around our state. Their kickoff is at Seattle Revival Center from Feb 7-10 and one of the intentions of this campaign is the pro-life movement. There's something going on with this and I don't believe in coincidences. I'll be speaking during their Saturday events. I am hoping we will all find a good deal of synergy between these two movements. Please consider participating in this prayer movement this lent as a means to grow both the pro-life as well as the spiritual community in the Seattle area.

Ongoing Prayer on Thursdays and Saturdays in the U-District
Can't make it out to one of the six 40 Days locations with any regularity but you still want to be more involved? Good news! We're still going out to the clinic in the U-District (on 9th Ave at 45th St.) every Thursday from 6am-Noon and on Saturdays after the 8AM Mass at Blessed Sacrament.

McKenna Waves the Bloody Shirt

Rob McKenna, Attorney General up for re-election this fall, confirmed his pro-abortion choice position for voters today.

"I am pro-choice, and I'm on the record as being pro-choice," McKenna said.

In a statement by John Ladenberg, his democratic opponent, attacking McKenna, what appeared to be an insult to came across as a compliment.

"I believe in choice, and Rob is a believer in right to life,"

Both left no doubt that neither believe in the right to life only the empty code word for death -- "choice".

What struck me about the dispute was its subtle reminder of something fired former US Federal Attorney John McKay said last May at a the Washington Mainstream Republican's annual conference.

"What we've done is take issues like gay marriage and rubbed people's noses in it. ... We raise abortion up on the flagpole every single time to create dissension, to create some line that has nothing to do with what Republicans are about. We should accept people into the party who have divergent views, on immigration, on gay marriage."

Raise abortion up on the flagpole. Raise abortion up on the flagpole.

When I read that statement originally I pondered that phrase. What was he talking about? I never did figure it out but now I think I know. What he was alluding to, whether he knew it or not, was "waving the bloody shirt". The imagery and circumstances are, of course, inverted which would be typical in an age when good is bad and bad is good, but it kind of works in this instance.

Now we get to watch McKenna and Laudenberg see who can wave the biggest, bloodiest shirt.

King County...NOT

King County and the Seattle area have always prided themselves on their civil rights record. They recntly rebranded the county as Martin Luther King, Jr. County, rather than William Rufus DeVane King (1786-1853), the Vice President-elect for whom the county was named in 1852, as if to flaunt their support for the cause for which MLK fought.

As anyone who has followed local politics here knows, the King County politicians, even the Aftican American ones could care less about the helpless, voiceless black children who are slaughtered in the County almost every day of the year. Individual abortionists and the abortion lobby are part of the local elite and dictate that a favorable attitude toward abortion must be advanced by anyone seeking and holding public office. I've never heard a public complaint from any public official that Planned Parenthood is too focused on minority neighborhoods.

Local pro-lifer Djana Milton lays it all out --

What is the value of a baby's life in 2007 America? As far as the NAACP is concerned, it is apparently not worth much. Each of us has a question that we must examine on our own, that being, "How much am I willing to not spend, in order to increase the value of life and advance it's cause?" However personal such an answer may be, this I know: Burke was right. Evil does prevail when good men do nothing.

At this time of year, it is difficult not to recall that recent, yet momentous struggle for black civil rights and the man who helped re-awaken America to its promise of justice for all. Dr. King once remarked, "We have waited more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights."

It has now been 380 years. Some still wait.

Ron Paul Visits UW

I doubt McCain and Romney could get this large, spontaneous group together. And the audience doesn't seem to mind that he's pro-life and would actually DO something to end abortion.