Planned Parenthood's Profits

The following letter to the editor was submitted to the Grand Rapids Press in response to a letter from Katherine Humphrey, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of West and Northern Michigan.

In a recent letter to the editor, Katherine Humphrey attempts to defend her employer, Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion provider. She claims Planned Parenthood profits from last year "meet the highest standards of fiscal accountability" without mentioning Planned Parenthood made a whopping $114.8 million dollars in profit last year. That's approximately 11% of their revenue. For comparison, Exxon-Mobil's record profits in the final fiscal quarter of 2007 were 10% of their quarterly revenue. Planned Parenthood is one of the most profitable "non-profits" in the world as their profits (income over their expenses) are in the tens of millions of dollars every single year. Their profits were also boosted by the more than $300 million in tax dollars they received from the government.

Humphrey also claims she's proud to be a part of Planned Parenthood's "efforts" to prevent abortion. Planned Parenthood is America's #1 abortion provider. They committed 289,750 abortions in 2006. While the number of abortions being performed nationwide has dropped significantly in recent years, the number of abortions committed at Planned Parenthood has increased dramatically (they performed under 200,000 abortions in 2000). They now commit approximately 1/4 of all U.S. abortions. Planned Parenthood claiming they want less abortions is like Exxon-Mobil claiming they want people to use less gas.

LifeBeat for June 28, 2008

Steve Wagner, bioethics speaker for Stand to Reason, talks about the importance of prolifers using questions to create a dialogue with pro-choice individuals. To listen, click here.

LifeFacts - Painful Genetic Skin Disease Corrected after Bone Marrow Transplant

Two year old Nate Liao, afflicted with a fatal genetic skin disease, appears to have been cured after undergoing a cord blood and bone marrow transplant. The painful disease “causes the skin to fall off at the slightest touch and inevitably leads to cancer.” Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bulosa (RDEB) patients lack a certain type of collagen which renders the skin very delicate. The children must have their entire body continuously wrapped in bandages and may succumb to infections. The lining of their gastrointestinal tract is so fragile the slightest morsel of food can tear and blister the lining of the esophagus, making it very hard to eat and keep food down. After the experimental surgery was conducted at the University of Minnesota in October of 2007, Nate not only began to eat regular table food for the first time but is demanding pork chops and Doritos.

This is proof that stem cells derived from bone marrow can effectively differentiate to treat not only blood diseases but this rare incurable skin disease. Bone marrow specialist Dr. John Wagner said, “ Maybe we can take one more disorder off the incurable list.”

For more information, click here.

LifeBeat for June 21, 2008

Pamela Sherstad, public information director for Right to Life of Michigan, talks about the recent decrease in the number of abortions in Michigan. Abortions in Michigan are at their lowest level since the state began recording abortion statistics. She also talks about ways to help decrease the number of abortions. To listen, click here.

LifeBeat for June 12, 2008

Kaitlin Schmitz, winner of Right to Life of Michigan’s Prolife Youth Award, talks about her work in the prolife movement and the importance of young people being involved in defending human life. To listen, click here.

LifeFacts - Could the cure for Parkinson's be right under our nose?

Those afflicted with Parkinson's lack a certain chemical called dopamine, which is produced in the brain. The resulting loss of muscle control can be temporarily relieved for some patients through drug therapies, however there is still no cure.

Researchers in Australia simulated Parkinson's disease in the brains of laboratory rats, which made the rats run in circles. The afflicted rats were then injected with stem cells which were extracted and cultured from the nasal cavity of Parkinson's patients. The rats re-gained their ability to run in a straight line. Prof. Alan Mackay-Sim from the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research who led the study, said that this proves that the adult stem cells differentiated into dopamine-producing neurons. None of the transplants formed tumors in the rats, as had similar models using embryonic stem cells.

The undifferentiated stem cells from the olfactory nerve in the nose, are influenced by the environment they are injected into. In this case, they were transplanted into the brain and became dopamine producing brain cells.

For more information, click here.

LifeBeat for June 7, 2008

Dr. Don Condit talks about his efforts to change the Michigan State Medical Society’s position on embryonic stem cell research from a position which favored killing human embryos to its current neutral position. To listen, click here.

New Critical Reading of Dr. Mel Lester's Embryonic Stem Cell Editorial

We've posted a critical reading of Dr. Mel Lester's "Embryonic Stem Cell Research Offers Hope" editorial which was published on the June 1, 2008 in the Lansing State Journal. In his editorial, Dr. Lester makes a number of highly misleading and untruthful claims about embryonic stem cell research.