Life Advocacy Briefing

Right On the Money, Rep. Flores!

A RECENT REPORT ABOUT PLANNED PARENTHOOD’s ABORTION QUOTAS has stirred the ire of US Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX), in whose district the report surfaced after the closing of a Planned Parenthood shop.

“In an interview with the Daily Caller,” notes Kirsten Anderson, writing for LifeSiteNews.com, Mr. Flores “called the abortion giant’s methods ‘appalling’ and accused them of callously murdering babies for financial gain.

“‘While the murder of any unborn child is appalling,’ [Rep.] Flores said” in the Daily Caller interview, writes Ms. Anderson, “‘even more criminal is the establishment of a target to kill over 1,100 innocent Texas children in order to meet financial targets.’”

Right on, Rep. Flores! Reports of abortion quotas have surfaced every so often over the years, usually when a Planned Parenthood employee repents and divulges the ugly business practices of the abortion industry’s leading enterprise. The Representative’s remarks responded to just such news, in this case concerning the now-closed PP shop in Bryan, Texas.

The report comes from the Bryan shop’s former director, Abby Johnson, now a pro-life leader who, notes LifeSiteNews, “runs a pro-life charity dedicated to helping abortion workers leave the industry.

“In a three-minute video,” reports Ms. Anderson, “[Mrs.] Johnson revealed a secret budget document she was given in 2010, in which her clinic … was assigned a goal of 1,135 abortions – double the number it had performed the previous year.” That document was one of the elements in Mrs. Johnson’s disillusionment with her employer.

“‘This was bothersome to me,’” she said in a news release which accompanied her release of the video, quoted by LifeSiteNews, “‘as I truly believed that our goal was to reduce the number of abortions. … After all,’” she commented, “‘that’s what we always said to the media. … When I voiced my concerns to my supervisor,’” she said in the release quoted by Ms. Anderson, “‘she laughed and said, “But Abby, abortion is how we make our money.”’”

Calling the abortion quotas “criminal,” Rep. Flores, notes Ms. Anderson, “said he hopes Planned Parenthood will some day pay for its crimes against humanity. ‘The criminal behavior of Planned Parenthood has no limits,’ [Mr.] Flores said. ‘Some day, somehow the leadership of Planned Parenthood will have to answer for their callous disregard of the sanctity of human life.’”

He noted, reports Ms. Anderson, that he is meanwhile “‘relieved that the Bryan abortion facility has gone out of business.’

“The Bryan facility closed down late last year,” notes Ms. Anderson, “after Gov. Rick Perry [R] rejected federal aid for health care and started a new state-run healthcare program for the poor that expressly forbids abortion providers from participating.”

Brownback in Re-election Trouble?

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE ABORTION LOBBY MAY BE ON THE ROPES, along come the “establishment” gurus of the GOP to the rescue of the cartel.

Just when the former governor of Kansas, abortion fanatic Kathleen Sebelius, has had to walk the plank for blowing the ObamaCare roll-out as Pres. Obama’s Health & Human Services Secretary, more than 100 “self-described ‘moderate Republicans,’” reports Dustin Siggins for LifeSiteNews.com, “have thrown their support behind a pro-abortion Democrat” against Mrs. Sebelius’s gubernatorial successor, former Sen. Sam Brownback, in his first bid for re-election.

The chief complaint of these defectors backing the Kansas House’s top Democrat in his candidacy for governor?  Gov. Brownback has cut taxes too much, an interesting stand for a bunch of “Republicans” to take.

Among his budget cuts enacted along with the tax cuts: “Since entering the governor’s office in January 2011,” writes Mr. Siggins, “[Gov.] Brownback has worked to make Kansas the first state to defund Planned Parenthood and has passed numerous other abortion restrictions.”

The “moderate Republicans” seem to be made up chiefly of former legislators and party officials who were ousted since Gov. Brownback took his office, many in order to clear the way for conservatives to vote to get state spending and social policies under control. The defectors claim their real concern is economic issues but seem to overlook that the Brownback policies have contributed to the state’s unemployment rate falling to 4.9%, “well below the national average,” notes Mr. Siggins, “of 6.1%” measured in June 2014.

Whatever the reasons, as of today Gov. Brownback – a true pro-life hero of many years’ standing – is clearly in trouble for re-election, polling 10 points behind the liberal abortion advocate who carries the Democratic Party label. We are sorry to see it and hopeful the voters will awaken in time to the real treasure they enjoy in their governor’s office.

Haskell’s Sharonville Shop Barred from Abortion

NOTORIOUS OHIO ABORTIONIST MARTIN HASKELL has finally met a judge who respects the law, perhaps even the health and safety of women and, who knows, maybe even the lives of babies targeted by Mr. Haskell.

An abortionist for more than 32 years, he gained national notoriety in 1992 by presenting the details of a new abortion technique to the National Abortion Federation trade group, a procedure which became known as “partial-birth abortion;” Mr. Haskell was an enthusiastic practitioner.

He was back in the news last week as the loser in a court battle over continued operation of his illegal late-term abortuary in Cincinnati-suburban Sharonville, Ohio. The abortionist himself did not attend the court hearing, according to Dustin Siggins, reporting for LifeSiteNews.com; instead, he sent his wife.

Hamilton County Judge Jerome Metz on Friday, Aug. 15, upheld the January 2014 order by the Ohio Dept. of Health (ODH) closing Mr. Haskell’s “Lebanon Road Surgery Center (a/k/a Women’s Med Center),” reports Operation Rescue (OR), “for failing to have a written transfer agreement with a local hospital or a variance, i.e. exception, to cover patient emergencies.” The judge agreed with the state that “the burden of proof related to keeping the clinic open,” reports Mr. Siggins, “was not on the [Gov. John] Kasich Administration but on [Mr.] Haskell.”

Just days before Judge Metz acted, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) filed a lawsuit against the Health Dept., seeking to keep the Haskell shop going and “disputing ODH variance requirements,” OR reports. That suit is separate from the action taken by Judge Metz, and Mr. Haskell himself did not appeal the Metz order; he indicated instead he would use the Sharonville shop as a referral office for his continuing abortuary near Dayton. (At age 68, he may be tiring of the commute.)

Under new state laws confronting the Ohio abortion industry with actual medical standards, nearly half the state’s abortuaries have closed in the past 18 months, according to LifeSiteNews. The last day for late-term abortions at the Haskell Sharonville mill: last Friday. Hoorah!

We are cheered by Judge Metz’s refreshing grasp of the risks to women whom lawmakers protected with Ohio’s transfer agreement requirement.

Commented political blogger Justin Higgins, quoted by LifeSiteNews, “‘It is good to see a judge siding in favor of sensible women’s health policies and against Haskell’s corrupt abortion racket. I only wonder how long it will take for Haskell’s hand-chosen political [beneficiaries] to stop relying on his dirty money.’” Abortionist Haskell, notes LifeSiteNews, “is a prominent Democratic donor in Southwest Ohio.”

Telemed Abortion Ban Upheld in Iowa

A JUDGE IN IOWA ALSO GOT IT RIGHT last week, handing down a ruling, reports LifeSiteNews.com, “that the Iowa Board of Medicine was within its authority when it voted to prohibit the practice of telemed abortions.”

Since last November, the board’s policy has been suspended and, according to LifeSiteNews, Planned Parenthood’s practice of remote-control abortions has continued during the suit. But Judge Jeffrey Farrell, reports the pro-life news service, crediting the Des Moines Register as source, last Tuesday “ruled in favor of the board” and reinstated common sense and professional medical standards in Iowa.

Telemed abortions were developed by Planned Parenthood and piloted in Iowa in 2008 as a low-cost way to extend abortion throughout rural areas. The tactic offers abortion-minded women access to chemical abortions without the need for a doctor to physically examine the customer. In this system, a Planned Parenthood doctor sits in front of a computer somewhere and interviews the customer via computer networking. The customer sits at a desk, facing a computer, and answers the abortionist’s questions. When the doctor is ready, he or she hits a key which pops open a drawer in the customer’s desk. The customer draws out two pills in the RU-486 cocktail and is given instructions by a nurse. The customer takes the drug/s and aborts at home with no direct encounter with the so-called doctor and no follow-up care.

Is it any wonder that the Iowa Board of Medicine found that the scheme falls outside the practice of medicine?

The judge himself stated, according to LifeSiteNews, “that the crux of the board’s decision to adopt the rule is that an in-person physical examination should be done before prescribing abortion-inducing drugs. … While acknowledging that the rule would result in longer travel times and additional costs for some mothers who seek abortions,” notes LifeSiteNews, “[Judge] Farrell said that this did not impose an undue burden on women.”

“Planned Parenthood and other abortionists should be accountable to basic medical standards,” commented Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Michael J. Norton. “At the very least, that includes a licensed professional meeting personally with women who are considering such a serious and life-altering decision. … The fact that Planned Parenthood went to court to ensure they could continue to profit from these kinds of abortions is a great indication of where its priorities lie.”

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, which infests Iowa, indicated it will appeal to the state supreme court.

Protecting the Neighborhood

PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS MEETING STRONG RESISTANCE in its bid to open an abortuary in Kissimee, Florida, across the street from the Osceola Regional Medical Center and just 15 miles from Orlando’s Disney World.

First there was the “crowd of anti-abortion protesters,” writes David Breen in the Orlando Sentinel, who “flooded city hall in a bid to keep it from happening.”

Then there was the “clinic’s” grand opening ceremony, marked by “protesters chant[ing] and wav[ing] signs outside,” Mr. Breen reports.

And now a judge “has issued a temporary injunction,” reports the Sentinel, “barring abortions and some other procedures such as ultrasounds from being performed at the clinic.”

The temporary injunction, issued by local Circuit Judge John Jordan, results from a lawsuit filed, reports Mr. Breen, by “the owners of a neighboring cardio-vascular medicine practice in the Oak Commons Medical Park, alleg[ing] that Planned Parenthood violates deed restrictions on what services can be offered at the property. The property owners’ covenants,” notes Mr. Breen, “specifically bar an outpatient surgical center, an emergency medical center or a diagnostic imaging center on the site. In addition,” writes Mr. Breen, “the restrictions bar any activity ‘that is obnoxious to or out of harmony with other developments’ on the property.”

Judge Jordan found, reports Mr. Breen, “a ‘substantial likelihood of proving’ that Planned Parenthood, by performing abortions, is in violation of the outpatient-surgical-center provision, and, by performing ultrasounds, is in violation of the diagnostic-imaging provision.”

Unfortunately, “he rejected contentions made by the plaintiffs,” reports the Sentinel, “that administration of the morning-after pill constitutes an emergency medical procedure, and that abortions are ‘obnoxious to or out of harmony with’ other practices at the site.” But his “substantial likelihood” conclusion is a good sign that the injunction will stick. The judge has already rejected Planned Parenthood’s immediate motion that he reconsider the injunction. An appeal, of course, is likely.

Another Blot

PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS SMACK IN THE MIDDLE of a deeply troubling rape case in Arizona, and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is seeking a state Health Services Dept. investigation of the abortion behemoth’s involvement.

It’s about an 18-year-old who has been charged, reports the Daily Caller, with “27 felonies for assaulting 11 girls ranging in age from 12 to 17 years old.” One of his earliest victims is a 14-year-old girl who went to Planned Parenthood in Tempe with her mother and reported the rape, apparently to no avail.

“The young girl’s mom told investigators that the counselor ‘intentionally mislabeled the pregnancy’ as a consensual encounter,” writes Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in his Aug. 11 Washington Update, one of several reports on the tragedy. According to the mother, the Planned Parenthood employee “‘didn’t want the hassle’ of reporting” the rape.

“‘Planned Parenthood’s main concern should be the safety of young girls,’ said ADF attorney Natalie Decker,” quoted by Mr. Perkins, “‘not the size of its profit margin.

“‘Sadly, this is not an exception,’” she said in the Perkins commentary, “‘and Planned Parenthood is abusing more than just taxpayer dollars.’”

What a Waste … at Best

‘PROFIT. NO MATTER WHAT.’ That’s the title of Alliance Defending Freedom’s (ADF’s) annual report on Planned Parenthood. Seems to fit.

“The audits for fiscal year 2013,” writes ADF Social Content editor Emily Conley, “found a total of more than $115 million in waste, abuse and potential fraud in federal and state family planning funding programs, the majority of which goes to Planned Parenthood.”

And that doesn’t even touch on the wrongful use of tax money by purpose and goal, not the least of which – even setting abortion aside for a moment – is contributing to the sexual delinquency of minors. No thank you.