US House votes to permanently ban taxpayer-funded abortions

Yesterday the US House voted 238-183 to pass H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. The bill would permanently ban federal dollars from paying for abortion-on-demand. The Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds to directly pay for most abortions, has been debated yearly on the floor of the House to be included in the annual appropriations bills since 1976. H.R. 7 would make Hyde a permanent and government-wide law.

The Hyde Amendment went to the Supreme Court in 1980 with the case Harris v. McRae. The ruling held that the funding restrictions created in Hyde did not violate the Constitution. It also said that those who participated in Medicaid were not required to fund abortions.

With the passage of Obamacare in 2010, there was a new threat of taxpayer funded abortions. Under Obamacare, federal tax subsidies were created to assist millions of Americans' purchase private health plans, even ones that cover abortion. H.R. 7 would not allow those plans that cover abortions to qualify for federal subsidies. Michigan opted-out of abortion insurance plans through Obamacare in 2013, but many states have not.

Rep. Bill Huizenga's statement in support of H.R. 7

Rep. Tim Walberg's statement in support of H.R. 7

Rep. John Moolenaar's floor speech in support of H.R. 7:

A woman responds to the Women's March

Thank you to Kay Scott for sharing her writing with us

The following is a young child’s response to protest signs at the Women’s March on Washington, January 21, 2017. The signs were real. The child is imaginary, yet represents millions. For anyone who has had an abortion, may your heart be free and whole. This is not an indictment of you. Rather, it is a look to the future. The hidden voice speaks: "Listen, for I have worthy things to say."

WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED
I am the human growing inside you. Please don’t silence me.

SAFE AND LEGAL ABORTIONS
I am the human growing inside you. Abortion is not safe for me.

MAKE AMERICA KIND AGAIN
I am the human growing inside you. Will you be kind to me?

MY BODY, MY CHOICE
I am the human growing inside you. With my own arms and my own legs, My own head and heart, Your body is not my body. And, my body is not yours.

WE WILL FIGHT TO PROTECT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
I am the human growing inside you. Will you protect my right to reproduce someday?

PROTECT FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS
I am the human growing inside you. Isn’t my right to live as basic as yours? And, as fundamental as anyone else’s?

 LOVE AND ACCEPT US ALL
I am the human growing inside you. Accept us all, except for me?

WHERE IS YOUR COMPASSION?
I am the human growing inside you. Do you have compassion for me?

#10 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: conscience rights

Throughout the series we've covered numerous problems plaguing Planned Parenthood on an institutional level: fraud, misrepresenting their services, staff failing to report sexual abuse, women injured, etc.

The most important reason prolife people want to defund Planned Parenthood, however, is protecting our conscience rights. Conscience rights have a long history in America. Though we disagree on the specifics, the idea that conscience rights are worth protecting on some level is almost a universally-held value in America. Look no further than the recent election.

Prolife people object to abortion. Abortion takes the life of innocent children; what else could be more objectionable than taking lives? Many abortion supporters don't truly understand this, often because Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion organizations will mislead their own supporters about what motivates prolife people. They say we hate women (even though we're mostly led by women). They say we hate poor people. Sometimes we'll get at least some credit for not being monsters when we are accused of only caring about babies before they are born.

The scale of life taken by abortion is almost beyond compare. Since 1973, more than 57 million unborn children have had their lives taken from them. Prolife people strive every day to end this devastation, and we refuse to simply sit down and be forced to support the organization that leads the abortion movement.

Planned Parenthood performs more than 320,000 abortions a year. That is a scale we can understand and compare things to, to understand why prolife people object to being forced to support their organization:

• Planned Parenthood does more abortions in a year than women who die of cancer (320,000 vs. 270,000).
• For every single gun homicide in America in 2014, Planned Parenthood did 29 abortions. 
• In 2014, there were 5,479 hate crimes in America, according to the FBI. For every hate crime, Planned Parenthood did 59 abortions.
• MIT estimates that air pollution leads to the earlier deaths of 200,000 people a year, compared to the 320,000 abortions Planned Parenthood performs every year.

To begin to wrap your mind around the greater cost of abortion, listen to this short video that uses a tin can and BBs to put the conscience of prolife people into perspective:

An action alert, a win, and some more action today

Today is a great day to be a prolifer! The theme today is taxpayer support for abortion, and there's three important items:

#1: ACTION ALERT - Lobbying needed TODAY on No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act 

The U.S. House of Representatives is considering legislation to make the Hyde Amendment permanent. The Hyde Amendment is annual legislation attached to the budget which prevents your tax dollars from paying directly for most abortions. The legislation could see a vote in the House as soon as tomorrow, January 24. ACTION NEEDED: Contact your U.S. House representative now and tell them: "Please vote YES on H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. A majority of Americans oppose our tax dollars being used to pay for abortions."

MI Congressional Contact Information

#2: President Trump reinstates Mexico City Policy 

This morning President Trump signed an order reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which stops your tax dollars from going to groups overseas that provide and promote abortion. The rule was first instituted through executive order by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. The order has been rescinded and reinstated by pro-abortion and pro-life presidents since then. Abortion will no longer be an American export!

#3: Don't forget day 9 of our Top 10 reasons to defund Planned Parenthood

Going with today's theme, don't forget to share information on how Planned Parenthood utilizes tax-funding to expand their abortion services.

Reason #9: More tax dollars and fewer services

#9 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: more tax dollars and fewer services

Planned Parenthood wants you to believe that defunding them will leave millions of women without vital care. In reality, they are a small section of the health care industry, and other community health centers could easily pick up their slack. Not only that, their own annual reports show that they don't actually increase services when receiving new taxpayer funding.

Can community health centers survive being overrun with Planned Parenthood's patients?

Would you call a clinic seeing one additional patient a day an impossible feat? Defunding Planned Parenthood won't completely end Planned Parenthood. They served the same amount of clients (2.5 million) back in 1999, with $360 million fewer taxpayer dollars. Let's assume they completely vanish, however. In 2014 there were 8,801 federally-funded health centers locations in America; those locations would have to serve Parenthood's 2.2 million non-abortion clients, using Planned Parenthood's $553 million in tax dollars. That's 250 clients per center, less than one more a day. That's $250 for each client to pay for an STD test, a pregnancy test or birth control. Those numbers are hardly overwhelming for centers that already serve more than 24 million people.

How does Planned Parenthood spend the money they do get?

In the last decade with CEO Cecile Richards at their helm, Planned Parenthood has dramatically increased their tax funding. They've cut clients and the services they frequently tout, however, while dramatically increasing their abortion services. Planned Parenthood instituted a rule in 2013 requiring every affiliate to operate an abortion clinic.

When Planned Parenthood gets more tax dollars, it frees up money in their budget they've already committed to current expenses. In a budget, one dollar is as good as the next, so whatever extra money they get is practically going to whatever new services they are going to provide.

Think about it this way, if we offered to cover 100% of your grocery budget, now the money you were spending to feed yourself has been freed up. What will you do with it? Buy groceries that are twice as expensive? Eat twice as much? Probably not. The more likely scenario is that you'll use your old grocery money to buy that TV you've been eyeing in the store, or invest it, or give it away: whatever it is you value or prioritize the most.

What does today's Planned Parenthood truly value? Breast exams? Contraception? Serving more women? That's what they talk about all the time. Their growth and spending priorities show what it is they value the most, however, not their media spin.

Shocking congressional report on fetal organ selling

The House Select Investigative Panel of the House Energy & Commerce Committee issued a 471-page report on January 4 detailing the shocking and illegal activities of abortion providers and fetal organ trafficking (“procurement”) companies. The panel was established after the 2015 release of undercover videos by the Center for Medical Progress showing Planned Parenthood officials dickering over the amount of money they would receive for handing over organs and tissues from the unborn babies they kill.

The final report, which also references more than 3,400 additional pages of exhibits and evidence, documents not only the illegal and unethical practices between abortion clinics and organ traffickers, but also the stonewalling and outright contempt of Congress that most of these entities demonstrated in response to the panel’s request for information. It is clear they all have something to hide.

The panel’s most substantial findings and actions include:

• The panel made 13 criminal referrals to the U.S. Justice Department or state’s attorneys general for activities discovered that appear to have violated federal law. In short, Congress is asking for criminal investigations. Some the findings that follow are among those criminal actions that require investigating.
• Planned Parenthood engaged with companies like StemExpress, DV Biologics and Advance Bioscience Resources to illegally buy and sell fetal organs and tissue. The money exchanged went far beyond paying a nominal “processing fee” or other “legitimate cost” for allowing access to the tissue.
• The lucrative nature of organ/tissue trafficking drove abortionists to alter the way they perform abortions to maximize available organs, pushing them to prefer late-term abortions and to perform illegal partial-birth abortions.
• Planned Parenthood and the procurement companies violated patient privacy (HIPPA) laws, engaged in deceptive informed consent practices and created incentives for women to donate organs/tissue that violate medical ethics standards.
• A late-term abortion clinic in New Mexico engaged in illegal quid pro quo arrangements with University of New Mexico to provide organs/tissue, including clinic abortionists being given “faculty privileges” at UNM without ever having to teach classes or provide academic services.
• StemExpress worked so closely with Planned Parenthood to obtain organs/tissues, that StemExpress employees essentially "set up shop" inside the PP clinics. StemExpress also thwarted the panel’s investigation by refusing to turn over requested documents, including financial records that would likely expose their illegal activities.
• The panel noted, “Virtually every entity and individual from whom the Panel sought documents did not fully comply…”

The panel concluded that all that their investigation found--including a history of Planned Parenthood falsely billing the government for Medicaid and other services to the tune of $132 million--warrants the federal defunding of Planned Parenthood.

#8 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: their political involvement

Involvement in the political process is very important. We firmly believe this as an organization. But what about organizations that receive half of their budgets from taxpayers? At what point are taxpayer dollars subsidizing electioneering and lobbying? Why should millions of taxpayers be forced to contribute to an organization that works directly to oppose their most deeply-held beliefs? When is the line crossed between participation and public corruption and influence peddling?

Planned Parenthood throws a lot of money around

According to their most recent annual report, in their 2014-2015 fiscal year Planned Parenthood spent $39.3 million on "public policy." In addition to that $39.3 million, Planned Parenthood also lists other activities in their annual report that sound related to politics. They spent $22.8 million on "engaging communities" and $23.7 million on "building advocacy capacity." We'd like to be able to explain what those categories mean exactly, and the taxpayers footing half of their bills deserve answers, but Planned Parenthood isn't forthcoming. They believe they are entitled to the billions of taxpayer dollars they receive and should be beyond questioning.

In the 2016 election cycle Planned Parenthood gave $3,042,948 to candidates and their affiliated political action committees spent $14,318,545, according to OpenSecrets.org. OpenSecrets ranks Planned Parenthood's candidate contributions in the top 1 percent of organizations, and their PAC spending ranks 23 out of 203. Not only is Planned Parenthood heavily involved in politics, they are one of the most major players. Taxpayers help them do this by paying for nearly half of their budget, freeing up their staff and resources to focus on opposing the views of many of those taxpayers.

Worse still are the implications of Planned Parenthood facing investigations for Medicaid fraud, trafficking the body parts of aborted babies, violating state health regulations, etc. Many legislators charged with oversight of this massive political and publicly-funded machine receive contributions from Planned Parenthood. Pro-abortion legislators get elected with help from Planned Parenthood, vote them more of your money, look the other way on violations of the law and public trust, and they get Planned Parenthood's campaign contributions. Rinse, and repeat.

An arm of the national Democratic Party?

As a non-partisan organization, Right to Life of Michigan laments that abortion has become a polarized party issue. That is a reality that Planned Parenthood faces as well, yet they seem to embrace it. For the second presidential election in a row, Planned Parenthood's CEO Cecile Richards addressed the Democratic National Convention in a speaking slot. Cecile Richards took a leave of absence in 2012 to work for President Barack Obama's re-election. Planned Parenthood broke with their convention to wade into the 2016 Democratic primary to endorse Hillary Clinton over an equally pro-abortion Senator Bernie Sanders, who was the victim of several questionable actions by the national Democratic Party apparatus. Why should taxpayers be forced to fund an essentially partisan organization?


Fighting the conscience of a majority of Americans

Polls routinely show a majority of Americans oppose tax-funded abortions, support laws requiring parental consent before abortions, support waiting periods, support laws that protect unborn victims of violence, oppose late-term abortions and vehemently oppose partial-birth abortions. On all of those issues Planned Parenthood has led the charge to oppose the views of a majority of Americans.

Abortion in 2014: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

On January 17 the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute released their most recent report on abortion in America.

While the Centers for Disease Control report includes abortion figures from state health departments and other official bodies, they miss data from several states, including California. The Guttmacher Institute includes numbers from all 50 states and directly polls abortion clinics. We know in the past in Michigan that some abortion clinics won't report data to the state.

The Guttmacher Institute may be closely affiliated with Planned Parenthood, but their report is the best estimate we have for abortion statistics; their trends also closely mirror those of the CDC report.

The Good:

There were 926,200 abortions performed in the U.S. in 2014. Abortions are now under one million a year, and at the lowest amount since 1974. The abortion rate, which is the number of abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age, is at the lowest level since 1973. At 14.6 per 1,000 women, that means abortion is less common today than at any point of legalized abortion in America. This is good news that your efforts are paying off in lives saved!

The Bad:

There were 926,200 abortions performed in the U.S. in 2014. Abortion dwarfs cancer and heart disease as causes of death, if the authorities counted it that way. More than 57 million unborn children have had their lives taken from them unjustly in the last 44 years. That's an amount of lives beyond comprehension.

The Ugly:

Many supporters of the nation's leading abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, are trying to claim that we should thank Planned Parenthood and Obamacare for this, specifically birth control and sex education. What a convenient claim given the national discussion about defunding Planned Parenthood and repealing Obamcare! These claims are wrong for several important reasons:

1. Planned Parenthood has been cutting birth control services and clients in the last 10 years, while expanding abortions.
2. The long-term decline in abortion began in 1990, 20 years before Obamacare came along. 
3. The most recent Guttmacher numbers acknowledge that a majority of women who have abortions were using birth control.
4. The Guttmacher report acknowledges the affect of prolife legislation in the last few years.

Through prolife people roll their eyes when the number one abortion provider brags about lowering abortions, it proves one of our critical points: abortion is unpopular. For many abortion supporters it is at best a necessary evil, not a social good as abortion leaders have been trying to say lately. Planned Parenthood could end a third of U.S. abortions overnight if that's what they really wanted, but at least they are still forced to acknowledge that abortion is ugly.

#7 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: they defraud Medicaid

Planned Parenthood's main argument against defunding them is that they are just reimbursed by Medicaid for services provided. Forgetting for a moment their focus on abortion over real health services, Planned Parenthood has a terrible track record as a steward of your taxpayer dollars.

A comprehensive review finds fraud

The Charlotte Lozier Institute and Alliance Defending Freedom released an excellent and detailed report on January 4 of Planned Parenthood's numerous problems with overbilling taxpayers through Medicaid. Audits and investigations have found Planned Parenthood affiliates to be the source of at least $12.8 million in waste and fraud. One federal audit found a Planned Parenthood affiliate was billing the federal government for abortion-related procedures. New York taxpayers are forced to directly pay for abortions through the state's portion of Medicaid, but federal law dictates that no federal Medicaid dollars must go to abortion. What was done about it? Not much! Time and again we've seen that pro-abortion officials rarely treat Planned Parenthood the same as other organizations or businesses.

Settling a case of Medicaid fraud in Texas

Let's briefly focus on one case in Texas, where public officials actually held Planned Parenthood accountable for once. A Planned Parenthood staff member blew the whistle on her employer, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. Allegations include falsifying medical records, billing for non-existent services, and providing unnecessary services. Planned Parenthood settled the case for $4.3 million. Texas has made efforts to kick Planned Parenthood out of their Medicaid program, but the pro-abortion Obama Administration attempted to exact revenge by holding other Medicaid patients hostage, leading to a long and convoluted fight still going on today.

How does this fraud work?

Former Planned Parenthood clinic director Sue Thayer is currently in court, alleging Planned Parenthood in Iowa committed $28 million in Medicaid fraud by filing 500,000 false claims. She details how Planned Parenthood takes advantage of the system for financial benefit. Planned Parenthood would mail out packets of birth control to former clients without a request. A month's supply for one woman only cost Planned Parenthood $2.98, but Thayer alleges Planned Parenthood was paid $26.32 by Medicaid. If pills were returned to Planned Parenthood through the mail as unwanted, they would mailed out to other women and billed again to Medicaid. Thayer alleges that Planned Parenthood also doubled-dipped by asking for donations for services, then billing the same services to Medicaid.

Feminism and the prolife movement

By Natalie Collins, RLM Education & Events Coordinator

As a way to promote human rights, a group of women came up with the idea of a Women’s March on Washington. This is supposed to be a walk that represents all women, while promoting feminism. However, the march has turned into something different.

Over the weekend there was clamoring because one of the sponsors of the event was prolife. According to the organizers of the march, their group is based on "intersectional feminism" and they were going to also be protesting for women’s health care and abortion access. This prolife group, New Wave Feminists, did not align with their message and organizers effectively ended their sponsorship.

While claiming to include everyone, they are willing to exclude prolifers.

If you don't know what intersectional feminism is, a simple search tells you that intersectional feminism comes from a type of sociological study to look at the different types of relationships among different dimensions. The term is further supposed to represent women who are feeling oppression to varying degrees.

Well, a lot of women might be feeling oppressed because they are told that they can’t go to the Women’s March because they are prolife. That's kind of ironic because that organization is claiming to stand up for the rights of all women. In reality they are ignoring statistically half of all women.

Maybe people would be more upset if the march organizers said that all people with brown hair can’t come to the march because they don’t want them representing their organization. People with brown hair account for a lot of women. So why is excluding someone because they are prolife any different?

You could go even further and make the argument that they are oppressing the rights of unborn women. It seems like this Women’s March might not actually represent all women.

Contrary to popular opinion, you can be a feminist and prolife. According to Merriam-Webster, a feminist is someone who supports the political, economic and social equality of the sexes; it doesn’t say anything about having to promote abortion. So according to that definition, if you want to stand up for women’s empowerment and promote legislation that helps make men and women equal, you are a feminist.

Unfortunately though, in real life the minute you step out and say that you are also prolife, other feminists will tell you that you can’t be a feminist. This being said, the main question still remains: why can’t a women be prolife and a feminist? We are supposed to be living in a society that is more inclusive. In reality, we are living in a time when it is okay to ban people from attending a free speech march because they want to defend the lives of the unborn; a march where it is okay to discriminate against someone because of their level of development.

The annual March for Life in Washington, DC will be taking place on January 27th. If you are unable to attend the march in Washington, find events in your area where you can make your voice heard. Coming together for equality and the empowerment of all women, born or unborn, is something we can all walk towards.

#6 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: they fail to report sexual abuse

Planned Parenthood has essentially a "no questions asked policy" when it comes to abortion. Whether born of ideology or business convenience, that policy hurts women who are being coerced into having abortions, especially rape victims and women who are being sex-trafficked.

Planned Parenthood looks the other way

The prolife organization Live Action has done two undercover video investigations showing many cases of Planned Parenthood staff willing to ignore mandatory reporting laws regarding statutory rape, and help sex traffickers keep their women on the street. One case involved a staff member giving tips on how underage trafficking victims can get back to sex work immediately following an abortion. Another involved a staff member advising the undercover journalist to lie to a judge to cover up her age. The investigations resulted in multiple Planned Parenthood staff members being fired. Did you hear about these videos? Doesn't covering up multiple instances of rape at a taxpayer-funded institution have some consequences?

This isn't just about video stings, but real women who have been sacrificed

An inspection by the Alabama Department of Public Health found that the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Mobile, AL had failed to report the rape of a 14-year-old girl—twice. Alabama state law requires any health organizations dealing with children to be mandatory reporters. Just four months after the 14-year-old girl came in for an abortion, Planned Parenthood staff failed again to report the sexual abuse and gave her a second abortion. Should Planned Parenthood's slogan be "Care. No Matter What," or "Abortion. No Matter What"?

Planned Parenthood opposes parental consent laws

If you are a parent of a minor girl, Planned Parenthood believes you have no right to know if she has an abortion. In fact, they believe the U.S. Constitution requires parents to be kept in the dark (strange, we must have all slept through that part in civics class). In Michigan it's illegal for a tattoo shop to give a minor girl a tattoo without permission, but Planned Parenthood is OK with performing surgery on her without anyone knowing. Thankfully Michigan has a parental consent law, but we know that in the past abortion clinics in the state have directed girls to friendly or apathetic judges who rubber-stamp a judicial bypass to shut the parents out of the process. Parental consent laws exist not only as a matter of a parent's right to raise their child, but also to protect against the sexual abuse that Planned Parenthood staff have looked the other way on.

#5 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: they sold baby body parts

 Planned Parenthood used many tools in their media arsenal to deceive their own supporters into believing they never sold the organs and tissues of aborted babies.

No, the undercover videos are not fake or heavily edited

The Center for Medical Progress' undercover video series exposing the practices of fetal organ harvesting are completely genuine. All they did was have a few actors pose as a company wishing to purchase the baby body parts, and Planned Parenthood and other members of the usually secretive abortion industry happily let them into their inner world. The videos are simply Planned Parenthood leaders and others talking on camera. In addition to the highlight clips released, full footage of every encounter was released. Even Planned Parenthood's own video review was forced to acknowledge there was no tampering involved. This paid report claims everything is out of context (it's not) and was designed simply to give a sound byte for supporters (essentially none of whom will ever read the actual report) to believe and rally around.

It's illegal to traffic fetal organs but nobody cares in the Obama Administration

If it's illegal to buy and sell baby body parts, how did Planned Parenthood get away with it? The law involved allows compensation for donations. In other words, those receiving the organs can cover any costs Planned Parenthood incurred while harvesting them. Because the law is vague, Planned Parenthood can claim whatever they want involving costs. As the videos showed, however, Planned Parenthood staff would do no actual additional work. They let the organ buyers into their office to speak with women (HIPAA violations?), and then pick through the corpses of the aborted babies like vultures for any profitable organs they could find. Unfortunately with a staunch ally in the White House with President Barack Obama, Planned Parenthood knew a pro-abortion justice department would never go after them.

Another legal problem was Planned Parenthood admitted to changing abortion procedures in order to harvest fresher body parts for sale. Any deviations in the procedure are supposed to be solely for the benefit of a patient, not for financial benefit. Again, pro-abortion officials means the abortion industry won't be held accountable.

The value of human life

Beyond the legality of organ trafficking, the harvesting of dead babies for spare parts touches the human conscience on many levels. As the videos show, Planned Parenthood was keenly worried about the public learning about their practices. Because of the impact of the videos, Planned Parenthood claims they will no longer sell fetal tissue.

Planned Parenthood and others often claim the baby is just a blob of tissue, or a ball of cells, or some other dehumanizing epithet. These clumps of cells, however, were generating intact livers, glands, brains, hearts, etc. for Planned Parenthood to sell. In one video we hear a clinic working marveling at the intricacies of the human spine, a spine that belonged to a fully-formed baby ripped limb from limb several minutes prior.

Throughout the videos, you hear that livers and thymus glands are the hot commodity in the baby parts market. Just what were they being used for? Many Planned Parenthood supporters have been led to believe that they will be used in transplantation for other babies in need. That's half true; the perfectly functioning liver/thymus pair is popular because it can be transplanted, but into mice, not people. The mice will then have a pseudo-human immune system that can be further experimented on. We also learned that the intact brains of some aborted babies ended up in a summer science camp for kids to play with.

These were lives with intrinsic value, and after being ripped apart—one limb at a time—the indignity was complete. These aborted babies were developed and human enough to be used as science experiments, but not human enough to be included in the human family in the eyes of Planned Parenthood.

#4 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: fails to uphold basic safety standards

Independent abortion clinics justifiably have a reputation of being the worst of the worst when it comes to patient safety and care, but Planned Parenthood also has many of these problems which are an epidemic in the abortion industry. Because of abortion's unique political status, abortion clinics often skate with violations that would shutter fast food restaurants or dental clinics.

Planned Parenthood's "meat market-style" abortion clinic in Delaware

We're not sure if Planned Parenthood was selling the body parts of aborted babies in their Delaware abortion clinics (to make them literal meat markets), but those are the words former Planned Parenthood staff used to describe the conditions. Delaware doesn't inspect abortion clinics regularly, leaving Planned Parenthood to regulate itself. Here's two staff whistle-blowers describing it in their own words:

"He didn't wear gloves."
"They were using instruments on patients that were not sterile."
 "It's not washed down, it's not even cleaned off. It has bloody drainage on it."

The faster abortions can be completed, the more income an abortion clinic can make.

Cree Erwin's death in 2016 in Battle Creek

The most recent woman to die following an abortion in Michigan had it performed at the Planned Parenthood facility in Kalamazoo. Cree Erwin, 24, had an abortion on June 30, 2016, and passed away at some point late in the evening of July 3, roughly 24 hours after visiting a nearby emergency room complaining of abdominal pain. Her mother found her unresponsive and "cold as ice," and emergency responders pronounced her dead at the scene in the early morning hours of July 4, Independence Day.

Planned Parenthood's slogan is: "Care. No Matter What." What sort of care did Erwin receive? What about her young son, left without a mother? Two lives have been taken, and Erwin's family is left to pick up the pieces. Just prior to Erwin's death, Planned Parenthood in Michigan announced that they were thinking about challenging Michigan's abortion clinic regulation in court as too restrictive. They've said nothing more since.

$2 million settlement in the death of Tonya Reeves

A recent example we have more details about is the death of Tonya Reeves, 24, from an abortion at a Planned Parenthood office in Chicago. She died of massive hemorrhaging following a second-trimester dismemberment abortion. She had multiple abortions throughout the day as Planned Parenthood and hospital staff struggled to deal with her condition. Her uterus had been perforated at Planned Parenthood, leading to an uncontrollable bleed and Reeves died during emergency surgery at the hospital. Following a lawsuit by Reeves' family, Planned Parenthood settled the case for $2 million to help Reeves' young son. No action was taken against the abortionist who caused Reeve's death, Mandy Gittler.

As far as we can tell, Mandy Gittler was the abortionist on staff in Kalamazoo the day Cree Erwin had her abortion.

#3 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: they deny the effects of abortion

Planned Parenthood has a financial interest in abortion. They have an incentive to routinely deny that abortion has any effects on women’s health, be it physical, emotional, or otherwise.

Planned Parenthood ignores the stories of post-abortive women

There are countless women who have expressed turmoil from past abortions. Rather than accept these women’s stories, in a publication titled, "The emotional effects of induced abortion," Planned Parenthood begins it by flatly stating that, "For more than 30 years, substantive research studies have shown that legally induced abortion does not pose mental health problems for women." Are women who express their depression and anguish after abortion not experiencing mental health problems?

Many studies have shown that abortion is related to an increased risk for several mental health problems: mood disorders, anxiety, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, etc. Abortion is associated with an increased risk of mental problems in 13 of 36 studies between 1995-2011. No difference between abortion and childbirth is found in five of the studies, and only one found worse outcomes for giving birth. To Planned Parenthood, the only "substantive" studies and experiences are those that validate their commitment to abortion.

Planned Parenthood ignores evidence about abortion and breast cancer 

Their publication entitled, “Myths about abortion and breast cancer,” is pretty clear on their position. The majority of worldwide studies done on the issue have shown a correlation between abortion and breast cancer. Planned Parenthood’s primary evidence refuting these numerous studies is a 2003 workshop hosted by the National Cancer Institute that declared there is no risk. One of the workshop's organizers, Dr. Louise Brinton, later went on to co-author a study listing abortion as one of several "known and suspected breast cancer risk factors." The study shows abortion is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Let's compare abortion to alcohol consumption, which is a widely accepted risk factor. The breast cancer odds ratio for women who have abortions compared to those who don’t in Brinton’s study was 1.4. It was only 1.1 for women who have three or more drinks a week compared to those who had none (1.0 meaning no change in risk). Women deserve to be informed that dozens of studies have shown a link between abortion and breast cancer, not a flat denial from researchers who publish data that contradict their own conclusions.

Planned Parenthood opposes a woman's right to know

In 2014-2015, Planned Parenthood received $553.7 million in taxpayer dollars, and spent $39.3 million lobbying elected officials according to their annual report. Planned Parenthood spends that lobbying money to oppose essentially any regulation on abortion, including requirements to inform women about abortion procedures and any potential risks. Until 1992 it was unconstitutional in America to require informed consent before abortion procedures. Planned Parenthood lost on that particular issue in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992. Planned Parenthood continues to oppose informed consent and laws requiring them to offer women the option to see their own ultrasound scans (imagine a doctor who won't let you see your own x-ray?). They should at least respect the right of their own clients to be informed about issues regarding their health.

#2 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: abortion over adoption

Planned Parenthood claims abortion is just a little part of what they do, but when you look at their own numbers you can clearly see a pattern that always points back to abortion.

Planned Parenthood does not present "all the options"

With a name like Planned Parenthood, one might assume anyone seeking help on planning to be a parent would be able to find help there. Their own numbers from their annual report show otherwise. Planned Parenthood performed 323,999 abortions in 2014, and only 2,024 adoption referrals. That's 160 abortions for every adoption referral. If a pregnant women walks into a Planned Parenthood, 99 percent of the time she's going to have an abortion. Planned Parenthood sells abortion and former workers claim they have abortion quotas to meet.

Planned Parenthood has aggressively moved to promote abortion

In 1997 Planned Parenthood performed 165,174 abortions, according to their own annual report. That same year they made 9,381 adoption referrals. By 2014, their abortions have increased 96 percent, and their adoption referrals have decreased by 78 percent. In 2010, Planned Parenthood issued a rule requiring all of their affiliates to operate an abortion clinic or face disaffiliation. Their own numbers from the last 10 years show that when they receive more tax funding they cut other health services in favor of abortion.

It's important to remember Planned Parenthood's history here. A pamphlet they produced in 1952 said abortion "kills the life of the baby after it has begun." Even their founder, Margaret Sanger, was extremely skeptical of abortion despite her other repugnant beliefs regarding eugenics, coercive population control and the genetic "stock" of the poor. In her 1920 book "Woman and the New Race," Sanger wrote, "While there are cases where even the law recognizes an abortion as justifiable if recommended by a physician, I assert that the hundreds of thousands of abortions performed in America each year are a disgrace to civilization." What went so horribly wrong?

Abortion is a money maker, adoption is not

The average cost of a first trimester abortion is about $450. That means Planned Parenthood generates at least $145 million in revenue from their abortion services. Planned Parenthood can offer nothing to a woman seeking adoption information, and referring them to another organization generates no revenue for Planned Parenthood, which turned in a profit of more than $58 million in 2014-15 according to their annual report.

#1 reason to defund Planned Parenthood: they lie

Planned Parenthood carefully crafts a public image of doing everything they can to help low-income women with health problems. This public image is created through deception and even outright lies.

Mammosham: No, Planned Parenthood doesn't provide mammograms

You can listen to Planned Parenthood's president tell people that they provide mammograms, and then listen to her admit to Congress that Planned Parenthood provides zero mammograms (and lie to them as well), all in one handy video. While many other health centers offer mammograms as a service, Planned Parenthood offers manual breast exams instead, and in the last 10 years their tax funding has doubled while their breast exams have been cut by 61 percent, according to their own annual reports.

Only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's services are abortion?

If that were true, why wouldn't Planned Parenthood drop abortion services and focus on the other uncontroversial things they claim are the most important to them? Because they deceive people on how they count "services." If a woman comes to Planned Parenthood to have an abortion, the pregnancy test beforehand and the contraception they give her when leaving all count as services. She came for an abortion, but she was given three "services." Would an oil change shop claim their main services are filling tires and replacing air filters? Here's a short video that breaks this all down.

According to their most recent annual report, if you divide the number of clients they serve (2.5 million) by the number of abortions they do (323,999), 13 percent of their services include abortion. That's a large amount of abortions. Planned Parenthood performs more abortions in a year than the number of women who die every year of cancer in America (about 270,000).

What what will women do if Planned Parenthood is defunded?

Defunding Planned Parenthood doesn't actually cut any federal funding for health services, it just means centers that offer more comprehensive services that don't include abortions will be instead getting the money. Planned Parenthood does not offer emergency health services, and women will still have thousands of alternatives that provide more services:

Life Uninvited returns to TV

Last year in January we debuted Life Uninvited, a 30-minute documentary that addresses the controversial issue of rape and abortion. Each of the four women featured in it shares a different personal experience. The stories include being conceived in rape, rape and incest survivors, abortion, and parenting a child conceived in rape.

Because of the nature of their stories and out of respect for their wishes, Life Uninvited is not online anywhere. It's not a DVD we can sell or rent out. Thankfully we're able to air it again on TV statewide this weekend, as well as Jan. 14-15 and Jan. 22. Here's the channels and times for this weekend's showings:

The film is the culmination of our Compassion Project ads in 2015. Far too often the issue of rape and abortion is addressed as a political debate. Very rarely do people actually hear stories from people who were conceived in rape or rape survivors who gave birth and kept their children.

Extremely few people even realize that only half of women pregnant through rape actually have abortions. RAINN estimates that there are between 7,750 to 12,500 children conceived in rape every year in America, only half of whom are aborted. When you add the numbers up over the decades, the simple odds are that you know one of these hundreds of thousands of people living with us today, indistinguishable from anyone else.

Unless you are a veteran prolifer, however, you probably have never heard about the issue of rape and abortion from that perspective. As Shauna points out in Life Uninvited, there is a stigma associated to being conceived in rape. When society talks about you as a "rapist's child," lesser than, perhaps you fear confiding in others your history and sharing your unique perspective.

Be sure to tune in and share the program details with others, inviting them to watch Life Uninvited with an open mind.

Thank you for supporting life!

Because of your generous donations, we were able to reach our $50,000 year-end online fundraising goal! As a double bonus, that $50,000 was matched through generous support.

The money donated will be going to the Right to life of Michigan Educational Fund to help further educate people on the tragedy of abortion and other prolife issues. There are countless educational resources and materials available to you—for free—because of your generous gifts. Examples include daily social media activity, our resource centers across the state, educational flyers and directing people online to pregnancy help resources. These are just some of the activities that we will be able to continue this year.

Here's to making 2017 another year full of opportunities to protect life!