LIFE DIGEST: Planned Parenthood’s abortions up by 8,000
- Mar 1, 2011 -
The abortions keep mounting at Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the country’s No. 1 abortion provider, recently reported its affiliates performed 332,278 of the procedures in 2009. That total marks an increase of 8,270 abortions from 2008. It includes procedures performed by surgical means in its clinics, as well as those done by use of the abortion pill RU 486.
It is the 15th consecutive year Planned Parenthood’s abortion total has increased, according to the National Right to Life Committee.
Also in this edition: Kansas House passes pro-life bills and Surrogate baby ring broken in Thailand.
PPFA may be responsible for far more abortions, however. Its affiliates distributed 1.537 million “emergency contraception” kits in 2009. “Emergency contraception,” also known as the “morning-after” pill, works to restrict ovulation in a woman, but it also can act after conception, thereby causing an abortion. This mechanism of the drug blocks implantation of a tiny embryo in the uterine wall.
While abortions continued to increase at Planned Parenthood affiliates, adoption referrals continued to decline. PPFA reported only 977 referrals in 2009. It made 2,405 referrals in 2008 and 4,912 in 2007.
Though Planned Parenthood protests abortion “is only a small part of its services,” in the last 15 years “it has gone from committing 9.3 percent of all abortions in the United States to committing 27.5 percent,” said Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League, in a written statement.
PPFA has grown its abortion business while receiving more and more funds from federal, state and local governments. It was the beneficiary of $363.2 million in government grants and contracts in the 2008-09 fiscal year, which was $13.6 million more than in 2007-08. PPFA’s total revenue in 2008-09 was $1.1 billion.
The House of Representatives voted Feb. 18 to eliminate all federal funding of Planned Parenthood in legislation to provide funds for the U.S. government through September. The Senate, however, is not expected to support the measure.
Kansas House passes pro-life bills
Pro-life advocates in Kansas gained House of Representatives passage of two important bills Feb. 24 in hopes of advancing them to new pro-life Republican Gov. Sam Brownback for his signature.
The House voted 91-30 for a bill that would prohibit abortions after 22 weeks gestation because of the unborn baby’s apparent ability to feel pain at that stage. Representatives also approved in a 96-25 roll call a measure that includes provisions requiring parental consent for a minor’s abortion, reforming judicial bypass procedures and barring abortion fraud.
“We are ecstatic that the House has acted to pass these bills, which will insure that the abortion reporting fraud of the past decade is never repeated, will eliminate any rubber-stamp judicial approval of abortion for pregnant teens, and will bring updated medical evidence to bear in treating abortion as a barbaric, unacceptable act,” said Kathy Ostrowski, legislative director of Kansans for Life, in a written release.
The Senate has yet to act on the bills.
In other state legislative actions, as reported by LifeNews.com:
- The South Dakota House passed in a 49-19 vote Feb. 22 a bill requiring a woman to visit a pro-life pregnancy care center before undergoing an abortion.
- The Texas Senate voted 21-10 on Feb. 17 for legislation mandating a woman be offered an opportunity to see an ultrasound image of her unborn child and hear his heartbeat before having an abortion.
- The Arizona House approved in a 41-18 vote Feb. 21 a proposal banning sex-selection and race-based abortions.
- The Indiana Senate voted 39-9 on Feb. 22 for legislation strengthening requirements on information a doctor must provide a woman before an abortion.
Surrogate baby ring broken in Thailand
Thai officials rescued 14 Vietnamese women from an illegal surrogate baby ring, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news service reported Feb. 24.
The women, including seven who were pregnant, apparently were trafficked into Thailand and had their passports confiscated. The surrogate baby company, known as Baby 101, took orders by email from childless couples or through agents of those couples. In some cases, the male members of those couples would provide sperm for insemination.
The women were found in two houses in Bangkok, but police are investigating to discover if more women are being held in other locations.
A Thai official, Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit, told AFP the business was “illegal and inhuman,” adding it appeared some of the women had been raped.
Nine people were charged, including a Taiwanese woman who reportedly oversaw the operation. She was charged with human trafficking.
“This is human trafficking in its most perverse and horrific form, sexual exploitation and rape, the mind boggles that something like this could happen,” said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch.
A company website said the cost to a couple for its service is $32,000 plus expenses, according to AFP.
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