Babies 'Very Happy' Over Feldt's Decision, Pro-Lifers Say

CNSNews ^ | 1/28/05 | Randy Hall

[anniegetyourgun]

(CNSNews.com) - Pro-life organizations cheered the announcement that Gloria Feldt is resigning as president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, with one activist stating Friday he thinks "babies are very happy" over the change.

During her eight years as head of the nation's largest abortion provider, Feldt "presided over more abortions than any other Planned Parenthood president and we are happy to see her go," said Jim Sedlak, executive director of Stop Planned Parenthood (STOPP) International, a subdivision of the American Life League.

Sedlak noted that during Feldt's tenure, "Planned Parenthood killed 1,370,000 babies" and "was responsible for more deaths than any terrorist organization in the world. I think the babies are very happy today that Gloria Feldt is no longer president of Planned Parenthood."

Wendy Wright, senior policy director of the conservative group Concerned Women for America, also applauded Feldt's departure, calling her "a forceful advocate of some of the most extreme positions on abortion and government assistance for sex-related services."

Wright said that during Feldt's tenure, "the number of abortions Planned Parenthood committed went up, the number of clinics that closed went up, and the number of private donations went down."

While Wright would not speculate on the reason for Feldt's exit, Sedlak pointed to the 2004 elections as a possible cause.

"In the last election, [Planned Parenthood] lost big in everything they supported," Sedlak said. "They supported John Kerry, and of course, he lost. They tried to defeat a parental notification amendment, which won by a huge margin, and they fought hard against the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman only," a measure that voters approved in all 11 states where it was on the ballot.

Along with those setbacks, Planned Parenthood "has been closing offices all over the country," Sedlak added. "We just think that Planned Parenthood thought it was time for a change."

Wright saw Friday's announcement as part of a larger shake-up taking place in several liberal organizations and pointed to the unexpected change in leadership of the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual advocacy group.

"There may be sort of a soul-searching going on in some of these organizations, to see that some of the positions they take have been very extreme and have not been appealing to the majority of Americans," Wright said.

"The thing we're watching for is whether or not these organizations will do what some within the Democratic Party have been hinting at," she noted, "not changing their positions, but simply changing their packaging -- how they frame the issues and speak about things. Perhaps Planned Parenthood might be considering doing the same thing."

Looking to the future, Wright said she hopes Feldt will use the change as an opportunity to re-examine her views on a number of issues.

"We hope and pray that now that she no longer needs to be such a forceful advocate, she'll be free to really think about what's good for women and see that some of the things Planned Parenthood is doing have been extremely harmful for women, particularly girls," Wright stated.

Feldt's successor, Wright said, hopefully will "be more considerate of their clients and allow for regulations and restrictions that are in the best interest of their patients."

Sedlak also expressed the hope that Planned Parenthood's next president will take a more moderate stance on women's issues. "I don't think that Planned Parenthood could find a president who was worse for the babies than Gloria Feldt," Sedlak said. "So I think any change here is good."

Feldt "was intent on getting abortion in every Planned Parenthood clinic in the country, and she was well on her way to achieving that goal," Sedlak stated. "We just trust that the next president won't be so adamant on killing babies."

[anniegetyourgun]

Good riddance.

[anniegetyourgun]

This, on the heels of the Human Rights Campaign Executive Director being fired from her $225K/year job 60 days ago.

[sassbox]

if anyone thinks the next president of PP is going to be any better than Feldt, he's kidding himself.

[anniegetyourgun]

No doubt there is someone waiting in the wings to take over this bloody biz. The purpose of posting it is that the 'resignation' was abrupt and unexpected.