Thread by me.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, December 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Planned Parenthood Federation of America plans to require all its affilate groups to offer abortions in at least one of their clinics, according to one of its affiliates.
Planned Parenthood of South Texas said Monday they were dropping their affiliation with the national abortion giant because of the decree, according to Caller.com.
The leader of the affiliate, which will change its name to Family Planning of the Coastal Bend on New Year’s Day, said there was no need to offer the procedure given the presence of other abortionists in the area.
“We have never provided abortions,” said CEO Amanda Stukenberg. “Our position is that if that is a need in your community, fine. There are far greater needs in our area than abortion. We feel that women here have options. We don’t need to duplicate services.”
The South Texas office will continue to offer emergency contraception, which can cause the death of an embryo by preventing its implantation in the uterus, in addition to other birth control drugs.
It is unclear how many of Planned Parenthood’s 89 affiliate groups in the United States do not perform medical or surgical abortions. Planned Parenthood committed 324,008 medical and surgical abortions last year, according to their 2008-2009 annual report.
Although Planned Parenthood often points out that abortion accounts for a minute percentage of its services, one former Planned Parenthood insider turned pro-life activist has revealed the group’s dependence on the “lucrative business” of abortion for propping up its $1 billion budget.
“The money wasn’t in family planning, the money wasn’t in prevention, the money was in abortion,” said Abby Johnson, former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas.
According to Johnson, her superiors established a monthly quota of abortions to keep the money flowing, and would increase the quota to meet financial needs. “They really wanted to increase the number of abortions so that they could increase their income,” she said.
Thread by 2ndDivisionVet.
Sarah Palin deserves an apology. When she said that the new health-care law would lead to "death panels" deciding who gets life-saving treatment and who does not, she was roundly denounced and ridiculed. Now we learn, courtesy of one of the ridiculers -- the New York Times -- that she was right. Under a new policy not included in the law for fear the administration's real end-of-life game would be exposed, a rule issued by the recess-appointed Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, calls for the government to pay doctors to advise patients on options for ending their lives.
These could include directives to forgo aggressive treatment that could extend their lives.
This rule will inevitably lead to bureaucrats deciding who is "fit" to live and who is not. The effect this might have on public opinion, which by a solid majority opposes Obamacare, is clear from an e-mail obtained by the Times. It is from Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who sent it to people working with him on the issue.
Oregon and Washington are the only states with assisted-suicide laws, a preview of what is to come at the federal level if this new regulation is allowed to stand. Blumenauer wrote in his November e-mail:
"While we are very happy with the result, we won't be shouting it from the rooftops because we aren't out of the woods yet. This regulation could be modified or reversed, especially if Republican leaders try to use this small provision to perpetuate the 'death panel' myth."
Ah, but it's not a myth, and that's where Palin nailed it. All inhumanities begin with small steps; otherwise the public might rebel against a policy that went straight to the "final solution."
All human life was once regarded as having value, because even government saw it as "endowed by our Creator." This doctrine separates us from plants, microorganisms and animals.
Doctors once swore an oath, which reads in part: "I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion."
Did Dr. Berwick, a fan of rationed care and the British National Health Service, ever take that oath? If he did, it appears he no longer believes it.
Do you see where this leads? First the prohibition against abortion is removed and "doctors" now perform them. Then the assault on the infirm and elderly begins.
Once the definition of human life changes, all human lives become potentially expendable if they don't measure up to constantly "evolving" government standards.
It will all be dressed up with the best possible motives behind it and sold to the public as the ultimate benefit.
The killings, uh, terminations, will take place out of sight so as not to disturb the masses who might have a few embers of a past morality still burning in their souls. People will sign documents testifying to their desire to die, and the government will see it as a means of "reducing the surplus population," to quote Charles Dickens.
When life is seen as having ultimate value, individuals and their doctors can make decisions about treatment that are in the best interests of patients. But when government is looking to cut costs as the highest good and offers to pay doctors to tell patients during their annual visits that they can choose to end their lives rather than continue treatment, that is more than the proverbial camel's nose under the tent.
That is the next step on the way to physician-assisted suicide and, if not stopped, government-mandated euthanasia.
It can't happen here? Based on what standard?
Yes it can happen in America, and it will if the new Republican class in Congress doesn't stop it.