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Planned Parenthood

Sep 20 2017
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Graham-Cassidy Bill: Last Chance for Health Care Reform

By | News and Events, Planned Parenthood, Press Releases, Sanctity of Life, Senate Legislative Updates, Uncategorized | No Comments

Washington, D.C. – Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) as well as Sens. Dean Heller (R-Nevada) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) have teamed up and introduced a bill that gives power over health care decisions back to the states and the American people. The Graham-Cassidy health care bill is the Senate’s last chance to pass health care reform with a simple majority vote through the reconciliation process in 2017. The Senate has a hard deadline of September 30.

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America issued the following statement in response:

“Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee is proud to support the Graham-Cassidy health care bill. It is time to make good on the promise made to the American people to end ObamaCare.

“There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for health care. Sens. Graham and Cassidy have provided a bill that gives power back to the states.

“Improving health care means protecting life at all stages, and Graham-Cassidy does just that. This legislation ensures that no funds within the bill will be, or can be, used to subsidize plans that provide abortion coverage &emdash; something every other bill has failed to address. Most importantly, it redirects Medicaid funds away from Planned Parenthood and gives them to federally qualified health centers which provide care for the whole woman.

“All the funds provided through this legislation will go through CHIP (Child Health Insurance Programs) &emdash; a bipartisan effort to ensure underprivileged children are able to receive healthcare. It is time to give Americans real care instead of “insurance” that is not worth the plastic on which it is printed.

“While it may not solve every problem plaguing the American health care and insurance industry, Graham-Cassidy is a vast improvement over the status quo, providing momentum that enables other issues to be addressed.

“The American people have been waiting eight years to be given back their right to make their own health care choices.

“Now is the time to make good on the promise made to the American people.”

For an interview with Penny Nance contact Annabelle Rutledge at arutledge@cwfa.org or 916-792-3973.

Jul 28 2017
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Senate Health Care Fails

By | Blog, Capitol Hill Brief, Planned Parenthood, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Washington, D.C. — Early Friday morning, the Senate voted on the Health Care Freedom Act, also known as “Skinny Repeal.” With three Republican defectors, the amendment failed with a vote of 49-51. Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America issued the following statement in response:

“I am deeply disappointed the Senate failed to fulfill its promise to end the crippling, un-Affordable Care Act. Yet, there is a ray of hope regarding the issue of life. Despite a drawn out and intensely debated Senate process on health care, the language to significantly reduce taxpayer funding of abortion was one of the only provisions that was not controversial.

“It was clear, without the language redirecting tax dollars away from abortion providers to Federally Qualified Health Centers, the Senate and House would be short far more votes than could be won by the provision’s removal. That is a win and not a small one either.

“In election after election, Americans have made it glaringly clear they want to be released from the crushing burden of ObamaCare. The status quo on health care is unacceptable. American lives continue to hang in the balance.

“This is a fight for all lives — for the lives of hard working Americans penalized for their inability to afford health insurance, for those who have insurance but don’t have access to doctors their insurance covers, and last but certainly not least, this is a fight for the lives of the unborn.

“The left clamors that government-provided health care is a human right, while simultaneously fighting against the most fundamental right of all — the right to life itself.

“The irony would be comical, if it weren’t so distorted.

“Most of the Senate Republicans won election or reelection promising to end ObamaCare. Only a handful blocked the fulfillment of that promise.

“Hopefully, they find a way to make good on their promise and end taxpayer funding of abortion or they may reap the consequences of failing the good people who sent them to Washington.

“Concerned Women for America is committed to this fight. A bipartisan, majority of Americans oppose their hard-earned tax dollars funding abortions; Congress is catching on.

“We will not stop until life at all stages is protected and the American conscience is freed from the stain of her unwilling funding of the abortion industry.”

If you’d like to schedule an interview with Penny Nance, please contact Annabelle Rutledge at arutledge@cwfa.org or at (916) 792-3973.

Jul 06 2017
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Planned Parenthood Doesn’t Need Our Money

By | Legal, News and Events, Planned Parenthood, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Planned Parenthood’s annual budget is a massive $1.5 billion. You provide, through your tax dollars, 41% of that.  Is this necessary? The numbers are clear, and the answer is a resounding, “No.”

To understand the financial situation of Planned Parenthood, it is helpful to examine its past two annual reports. These reports offer insight on why the federal government should shift funding away from Planned Parenthood without fear of depriving women of health care.

The two most popular and frequent arguments against shifting funding away from Planned Parenthood revolve around two specific services that Planned Parenthood provides for women: birth control and health examinations. Indeed, Planned Parenthood prides itself on promoting and supporting all aspects of women’s health. However, from 2014-2015 to 2015-2016, the numbers of services in this capacity went down significantly.

While the 2014-2015 report does not include the numbers for well-woman exams, the numbers of this service only account for 2% of all services provided by Planned Parenthood in 2015-2016. Additionally, the amount of birth control distributed through their centers went down by 140,000 from 2014-2015.

The services which liberals offer as evidence of the necessity of Planned Parenthood for women’s health care are decreasing every year, yet the numbers of abortions are growing. In the past year, the number of abortions increased by 5,000. This simple fact, found through a quick overview of Planned Parenthood’s annual report, proves the foundation for the true mission of the largest abortion provider in the nation.

Planned Parenthood, even with the decrease in specific health services, is continually growing both its excess revenue and its net assets. In the past two fiscal years, Planned Parenthood’s net assets have increased by almost $140 million with an excess revenue of $138 million.

How is this possible when Planned Parenthood’s services for women are decreasing steadily? The sad but simple answer is “abortion.” Planned Parenthood conducted 328,348 abortions in 2015-2016, and the profit from those abortions ranges anywhere from $136 million to $364 million.

Why are we funding this organization with our tax dollars?  Add to this the fact that Planned Parenthood is currently under investigation for selling aborted baby parts, and the fact is there is no reason we should be funding them.

It’s time for Congress to reevaluate federal funding for abortion. Planned Parenthood doesn’t need taxpayers’ dollars.  Abortion is not health care, but it is a lucrative business, as we have seen. It is why their services for women are slowly being overwhelmed by STD testing and abortions. Planned Parenthood’s ever-growing wealth indicates that it is more than able to raise a profit on its own.

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Kyle Permann is the 2017 Antonin Scalia Legal Fellow for Concerned Women for America

Jul 05 2017
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Repealing ObamaCare and the Future of Women’s Health Care

By | Legal, Planned Parenthood, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Health Centers Compared to Planned Parenthoods (Charlotte Lozier Institute)

A repeal of ObamaCare and the subsequent defunding of Planned Parenthood does not mean the end of easy access to women’s health centers. However, the media is still trying to villainize the Republicans’ attempt to fix the collapsing ObamaCare experiment.

The most recent effort was a CNN article discussing the story of a woman, Ariana Gonzalez, who lives in the Imperial Valley of California. Due to long wait periods at her local doctor’s office and complications following the birth of her youngest child, Gonzalez began to frequent a local Planned Parenthood where she received the needed care as well as birth control.

Before the Planned Parenthood opened in her town, however, Gonzalez often crossed the border into Mexico to receive affordable treatment. She fears that, if the current Senate health care bill becomes law, she will once again have to return to Mexico for affordable medical treatment and birth control because her Planned Parenthood will shut down due to lack of funding.

She criticizes the GOP, most of whom are men, for deciding what is best for women. However, this single quote in the article reveals the true intent behind Gonzalez’ story. While she may indeed struggle to find care, this criticism is a talking point straight from Planned Parenthood’s playbook.

While the media continually promotes the falsehood that conservatives do not care about women, a quick examination of the facts reveals the very opposite. Data from the Charlotte Lozier Institute reveals that there are currently twenty-three federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) for every Planned Parenthood.

FQHCs are facilities that “are required to provide comprehensive services to an underserved area or population, offer a sliding fee scale, have an ongoing quality assurance program, and have a governing board of directors, the majority of whom are patients of the health center.” These FQHCs are alternatives to Planned Parenthoods, and the new Republican health care plan will redirect funding to FQHCS. The funding is meant to improve the quality and expand the service at these centers.

Gonzalez herself has an FQHC in her town, which could provide her with the care that she requires. Yet, in response to this option, she recounts the long wait time when she went to the clinic to receive care for her son.

Wait time is a normal aspect of any doctor’s office, yet returning to Mexico for treatment is not the answer. While Gonzalez waited for four hours to see a doctor in her town, she had to go to Mexico and back, and then, according to her own account, waited three hours to get back to the United States after receiving care across the border. Her assessment is an attempt to help Planned Parenthood, but in reality, the facts don’t support it. Also, with more funding for FQHCs, each clinic will be better equipped to help their patients.

Additionally, since Planned Parenthood does not offer pediatric care, Gonzalez must find care for her family elsewhere. Remember also that Gonzalez’ Planned Parenthood will not necessarily close, even if it ceases to receive federal funding.

Planned Parenthood doesn’t even need to lose the government funding.  It’s just so insistent on holding on to abortion that it is choosing to do so. President Trump promised that he would not cut funding to Planned Parenthood if they ceased to perform abortions. Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, responded with indignation: “Planned Parenthood has always stood strong against these attacks on our patients and their ability to access the full range of reproductive health care.” So, it is Planned Parenthood who is choosing their own agenda over the real needs of millions of women.

Like many women, Gonzalez uses Planned Parenthood as a place to quickly and easily acquire her regular birth control. Even with a new health care plan, the HHS birth control mandate will still be in place. In Gonzalez’ town of El Centro, her local health center would be able to fulfill her need for birth control.

Every cent that is spent helping Planned Parenthood concentrate on abortion today will still go towards women’s health. These clinics provide care for a much larger range of people and the whole woman, while Planned Parenthood’s main focus, as we have seen time and again, is abortion.

It’s time to redirect federal funding in a way that benefits the most people. As a result, women like Ariana Gonzalez will receive better care and will not have to help Planned Parenthood continue its abortion promotion, just to get birth control.

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Kyle Permann is the 2017 Antonin Scalia Legal Fellow for Concerned Women for America

Jun 22 2017
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Capitol Hill Brief — Religion and Abortion

By | Blog, Capitol Hill Brief, News and Events, Planned Parenthood, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

 

I have some hard news.  Thirty-seven percent of women obtaining abortions identified as evangelical or Catholic.

Though self-identification may be a poor form of measuring religious engagements, these findings show that women getting an abortion are willing to be thought of as religious, but are still willing to get an abortion.

This is a tragic failure of the Church to truly educate women on what it means to trust God’s providence and forgiveness in difficult circumstances.

What can we do to help our churches teach pro-life values and support girls who get pregnant?  I think this is a fundamental question that every Christian church has to face, and I hope you will take it in prayer today.

Join us on the front lines, defending critical issues like the sanctity of life through prayer and action. Together, we’ll bring Biblical and constitutional values back to our nation. Stand with us, and give today at www.CapitolHillBrief.org.

If you’d like to hear these commentaries on the radio, find me on your local radio station.

 

Jun 21 2017
0

Capitol Hill Brief — Planned Parenthood Services

By | Blog, Capitol Hill Brief, Planned Parenthood, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

 

What does Planned Parenthood actually do? Mammograms? Nope.

What about prenatal care? Actually, only 8% of their clinics do that.

They boast about GYN exams and STD testing, but those are available through the more than 11,000 community health centers in America.

In fact Planned Parenthood only does about 1% of the nation’s pap smears and only about 2% of breast exams.  Yet they perform a full third of the nation’s abortions.

Abortion accounts for 86% of their non-governmental revenue.   94 out of 100 of their pregnant patients get one.

It’s time to stop funding them with our tax dollars.

Join us on the front lines, defending critical issues like the sanctity of life through prayer and action. Together, we’ll bring Biblical and constitutional values back to our nation. Stand with us, and give today at www.CapitolHillBrief.org. If you’d like to hear these commentaries on the radio, find me on your local radio station.

 

Jun 15 2017
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Capitol Hill Brief — Fight for Life

By | Blog, Capitol Hill Brief, Planned Parenthood, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

 

If you care about the sanctity of life, I want to encourage you to read “Feisty & Feminine: A Rallying Cry for Conservative Women.”

I believe we are on the cusp of big gains in this area, and for the good of our nation, we need to be all hands on deck!

Time magazine recently said that, although abortion-rights activists “won an epic victory” in Roe v. Wade, “they’ve been losing ever since.”

That is no accident!

Roe was decided in 1973.  Concerned Women for America started in 1978.

That means we’ve been fighting this evil abortion for almost forty years!

So, let us equip you and give you the tools you need to join the fight for life.

Penny Nance’s latest book, Feisty and Feminine, empowers women to engage the culture and is our gift to thank you for your donation today. Request yours at www.CapitolHillBrief.org. If you’d like to hear these commentaries on the radio, find me on your local radio station.

 

May 31 2017
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Statement of Penny Nance Regarding Planned Parenthood’s 2016 Annual Report

By | News and Events, Planned Parenthood, Press Releases, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Yesterday, Planned Parenthood released their 2015-2016 annual report — six months later than usual. Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, issued the following statement in response:

“In the midst of a desperate fight to prove their relevance and fitness for federal funding, Planned Parenthood quietly released their latest annual report to their stakeholders (read: taxpayers). Planned Parenthood is hoping this year’s release will go unnoticed and is counting on the mainstream media, which basically serves as an extension of their PR department, for that cover.

“For an organization that is so ‘proud’ of what they do, yesterday’s release was met with radio silence. With the exception of a subtle website change noting the decrease in patients served, there was no Tweet storm or Facebook live update, no Twitter-sponsored hashtag, no bright pink email blast, and no celebrity endorsement. Upon glancing at the report, it is no surprise why.

“Since 2012, Planned Parenthood has suffered a steady loss of 600,000 patients; this year serving only 2.4 million compared to 2.5 million last year. Prenatal services are almost cut in half from last year’s numbers, although they did perform 4,349 more abortions this year. Contraception services are down; cancer screening and prevention services are down, and overall services have suffered a 12.6% drop since 2011. Government funding made up 41% of their revenue this year.

“This year’s report isn’t a fluke or a result of bad press from ‘heavily edited’ videos. It is a pattern. For an organization who spent millions this past election cycle, who has $1.5 billion in net assets, who’s CEO got a substantial bump in pay, its unfounded to say women will lose care or that Planned Parenthood will shut down without federal dollars. They’re fine.

“Planned Parenthood’s annual report spends pages in La-la-land pretending last year’s Center for Medical Progress videos were the first inclination of their shady practices. As if the criminal and regulatory referrals made by the House in 2016 to the Department of Justice are meaningless. Planned Parenthood workers have been caught on tape aiding and abetting sex traffickers and failing to report statutory rape. Furthermore, fifty-one known audits of Planned Parenthood and affiliate billing procedures showed chronic Medicaid over billing totaling almost $8.5 million in false claims. This isn’t exactly a smear campaign based on ‘fake news’ and ‘heavily edited footage.’

“Most women don’t choose to go to Planned Parenthood, but instead choose to visit one of the almost 14,000 Federally Qualified Health Centers located nationwide. This year’s reconciliation bill redirects Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid reimbursement to these centers which care for the whole woman and serve the underinsured, rural, and low-income communities. Women are going elsewhere, and federal funding should follow.”

May 25 2017
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How long, O Lord?

By | LBB, Legal, News and Events, Planned Parenthood, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Most times I am outraged, really incensed, at the evil that is abortion.  I get angry at the debasement of the very image of God.  The way outside forces prey on vulnerable women for their personal and corporate profit.

Sometimes a sense of the reality of the sin we are committing as a nation weighs in on me.

But not today. Today, I fight to hold back tears (as I write in a public place).  Today, after watching the latest Center for Medical Progress video, I feel such pain for the people (educated professionals) that are part of this dark industry.

Here is the video:
[Editor’s note: the original video has now been removed from YouTube (they don’t want the truth to be heard!). Here we provide a shortened version still available through Twitter posts]

I want to be furious.  I want to be enraged.  It would be an appropriate response to such callousness—such cold, raw disregard for life, fragility and love.  These poor babies are thought about as “pointy skulls.”

I want to cry out to God, as the psalmist did, “How long, o Lord?”  I feel this irrational desire to pray as Jesus did on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”  But my heart sinks deeper still as I ponder that they do.  They do know exactly what they do.

And they do it anyway.

They do it with glee.  They discuss it between wine and giggles.  They make a living from it.

How long, o Lord?

How long will you and I, friend, turn a blind eye to this evil?  How long will you and I dismiss it as someone else’s problem?  How long will we pretend to fight injustice somewhere else, while we perpetrate an injustice of the harshest kind on our most vulnerable?

How long will we compartmentalize and rationalize what is plain for all of us to see?  A vulnerable baby, sacrificed at the altar of self? How long will we allow our court to push this evil on us?  How long will we allow laws making it possible to stand?

How long will we continue to support and promote the evil of abortion with our own money?

Oh yes, we can try to con ourselves into thinking we have no part in it, but the heart-cutting truth is that we all support this with our own money.  My money, your money makes conferences like the one we just saw in this video possible.

Our money pays for them to get together to discuss the harvesting and selling of baby body parts.

Let that sink in.  We are not guiltless (ok, forget about holding back the tears now).

We are not innocent.  We live our lives, every day under this horrid cloud.  We wake up, eat, drink, work, have time with family, even worship in our churches under this national cloud.

O Lord, how long?

Still, we do not despair.  That would be too easy.  No, we must renew our strength and set upon the hard, tedious, inconvenient task of exposing this infringement on our most basic right.  We must expose the painful, virulent nature of abortion.  We must repent.

That is why we must be so grateful for the work of people like David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress.  Their incredible sacrifice has ignited the moral conscience of many, and we will continue to take that work to the ends of the world until this evil is eradicated everywhere it is found.

If you are pro-choice, I plead with you to consider the reality of what is in front of you as you watch this video.  Forget about what you have been told and just consider what you are seeing, what you are hearing.  Are you okay with that?

We can do better than this.  We can be a compassionate people, a loving people.  Let us love one another then.  Let us love our daughters, so that they may never even come close to feeling a need to put themselves at the mercy of one of these exploiters.

May God grant us the wisdom and will to put an end to abortion once and for all.

May 23 2017
1

To the Women Who Trusted Planned Parenthood

By | Blog, News and Events, Planned Parenthood, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

As I was driving into D.C. today, I was struck by how many “Help After Abortion” stickers I saw. Don’t get me wrong; it’s fantastic to get the word out about a post-abortion service through a bumper sticker, but I started to think about the pro-life movement’s relationship with the women to whom these bumper stickers speak.

We talk about the children harmed by abortion and, to an extent, we talk about the women, too, but why is that where our conversation ends? Why is that the only communication the pro-life movement has with our fellow women, who are just as broken as we are and currently going through a traumatic time in their lives?

To the women who trusted Planned Parenthood when they told you your child was nothing more than a blob of cells …

I am so sorry. I don’t think the pro-life movement says it enough. We furiously make signs and hold protests to save children at risk of abortion, but very few times do we slow down enough to address the women who have already made the choice — the ones who knew no other option, or even those who knew they had a choice, made the wrong one, and wish they could take it back.

I am so sorry for the pain you are going through right now, and I need you to know three things:

First, you are not alone. Studies show that 55% of women regret their abortion. Many women were in your exact position, chose the exact same thing, and are going through what you’re going through. You are no worse than anyone else.

Second, you are deeply, ferociously loved. None of us in the pro-life movement are angry with you, and we don’t hate you. We want to move forward with you. In fact, plenty of women in our ranks have made the same choice you did, and that’s the reason they do what they do.

If anyone from our side has made you feel less-than or demonized, please do not let them taint your view of the right-to-life movement. This does not define you, and it does not affect your value in any way. Jesus paid the ultimate price so that, if you let Him, He can take every single sin from you.

Lastly, your experience has given you an opportunity. You have the power to speak up and change hearts and minds like very few people do. As a Planned Parenthood survivor, you have authority and credibility to help save women who are in the same position you were.

Do not, whatever you do, let the left silence you. They would like to stifle anyone who speaks out against abortion, but especially women like you who are a threat to their lie that “abortion helps women.”

Do not rush your healing, but when you’re ready, we are here with open arms, excited for you to join us in rescuing babies and women alike from the tragedy of abortion.