Why Conservatives Should Oppose Efforts To Defund Planned Parenthood (Full Page WSJ ad)

Wall Street Journal | 4/4/11 | Richard M. Scaife

[SoFloFreeper]

"An Open Letter to Fellow Conservatives"

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives--urged on by conservatives opposed to abortion--has voted to defund Planned Parenthood. On this issue, Republicans and conservatives are dead wrong.

My grandmother was a friend and supporter of Margaret Sanger, one of America's earliest, most effective advocates of birth control.

I met Sanger several times before her death in 1966 and was impressed b y her intellect and her commitment to many issues, not the least of which was enabling every woman to be "the absolute mistress of her own body" as she put it.

I didn't agree with everything the formidable Mrs. Sanger espoused. Yet I respected her dedication to making health-care and birth-control services available to all Americans, especially to those with low incomes, no insurance and no other recourse to medicall services.

And I admired her fearless, relentless readiness to stand up for what she believed, despite decades of angry, mean-sprited, often hypocritical attacks on her ideas and her character.

So I am aggravatged by the continuing attacks on Sanger and her primary legacy, the Planned Parenthood network that still serves so many Americans today.

Now the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives--urged on by conservatives opposed to abortion--has voted to defund Planned Parenthood.

On this issue, Republicans and conservatives are dead wrong.

Abortions are a minor aspect of Planned Parenthood's mission to provide reproductive health care, education, and other services to Americans, regardless of income.

More than 90 percent of its work focuses on preventive care, including preventing unintended pregnancies that often lead to unwanted, neglected and abused children.

In Pittsburgh and across America, Planned Parenthood offices help people to make better decisions about whether to have children. They help to arrance adoptions for women or couples unable to raise a child but unwilling to end a pregnancy.

Many of their clients are poor Americans who cannot afford birth-control measures that can cost $50 a month or more.

Of the 10,000 to 12,000 people who use local Planned Parenthood services, about 20 percent are teenagers, half are ages 20 to 30 and the rest are older than 30.

Of course, no one wants tenneagers to get pregnant. Yet far too many do--and they need reliable, honest advice about what to do next. For many of them, Planned Parenthood is the only reliable source of that advices. For many others, Planned Parenthood is the only safe, reliable source of counseling to avoid getting pregnant in the first places.

If not for Maragaret Sanger's vision and bravery, many poor Americans would have no place to turn for birth-control measures and counseling or for other health-care services.

To take that away makes on sense.

Dick Scaife

(Mr. Scaife is chairman of Trib Total Meida Inc., parent company of hte Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and its family of publications. Note: this op-ed was originally published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Paid for by Republicans for Planned Parenthood, a project of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

[FourPeas]

Paid for by Republicans for Planned Parenthood, a project of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Imagine that. Planned Parenthood funding an ad to argue for retaining their government funding.

[xzins]

In Pittsburgh and across America, Planned Parenthood offices help people to make better decisions about whether to have children.

This is an out-and-out lie, not to mention just a stupid statement.

I'm betting that not one single person walked through their doors last year and said: "I'm here to discuss ideas on better ideas about family planning before we get around to starting ours."

The BS meter is pegged out on that one.

[jazusamo]

One in the same.

Richard Mellon Scaife is only a conservative when he stands to profit from it.

This turkey supported the corrupt John Murtha for years and his paper, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, endorsed him many times.

For him to support PP proves he’s not a genuine conservative.

[trisham]

No, its a human rights issue. Both the federal and state governments have a duty and obligation to defend and protect innocent human life. Therefore, innocent human life should be protected at both the federal and the state level.

***************************

Agreed. There is nothing more fundamental than the protection of human life. Making it a states' rights issue makes no sense at all, unless we don't believe that human life is of much value.

[Responsibility2nd]

Am I the only one to see a reverse psychology angle here? That in fact Mr. Scaife is indeed bona fide? That this is a thinly veiled attack on the American Holocaust that is inflicted on America by Planned Parenthood and its pro-abation polices?

 

I'd like to see the official response from the hags and nags at PP. I cannot believe they would sit by and let anyone try and asociate PP with Margaret Sanger. Even though Sanger is their founder.

 

This article is satire folks. If I were a brain damaged liberal in search of blacks to abort. I would not like this subtle attack by Scaife.

[trisham]

Agreed. “Family Planning” is a euphemism for “contraception and abortion”.

[wagglebee]

nowhere in the constitution is the federal government given the power to regulate abortions. therefore by default it is a states rights issue.

Ah yes, the libertarian "pro-choice by state" approach.

Do you believe that the babies being murdered are persons? If so their deaths are already unconstitutional. If you do not believe they are persons, why do you care about abortion at all?

[wagglebee]

Big Murder PAID for the WSJ ad.

[FourPeas]

I would rather be unwanted, neglected and abused than dead.

First, I'm not a supporter of Planned Parenthood. At all.

Second, by the phrasing of your statement, I'd guess you weren't an unwanted, neglected or abused child. (And, no, I don't think abortion is the answer. Ever.)

[MrB]

I’m in agreement there... I’m just pointing out the lies of these people, as everyone should - call them on it when they lie and show others that they lie, that they can’t be trusted.

[FourPeas]

Did you notice who paid for the ad?

Paid for by Republicans for Planned Parenthood, a project of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

[trisham]

This isn’t an article. It’s an ad.

[Dunstan McShane]

"The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."

Wow--not just evil, but stinky evil!

[chesley]

I’m just pointing out the lies of these people, as everyone should - call them on it when they lie and show others that they lie, that they can’t be trusted

An excellent strategy, and, as a bonus, it drives them absolutely nuts. They CANNOT cope with facts and logic. Hate, fear, and anger is all they have.

[MrB]

Most leftist arguments consist of the fallacious logical categories of ad hominem or irrelevant thesis.

[Responsibility2nd]

....Republicans for Planned Parenthood, a project of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

___________________________________

Yes, I duly noted who sponsored this “ad”. I still am suspicious. What’s next? An ad supporting Obama from a “Muslims for Obama” group?

The logic fail is just so strong on this one. But I guess the average PP supporter knows nothing about the racist policies of Margaret Sanger. Or knows nothing about how PP still carries on a strong tradition of Eugenics in America today by targeting blacks.

[joe fonebone]

"Making it a states' rights issue makes no sense at all, unless we don't believe that human life is of much value. "
Contrary to your stated belief, this premise is entirely false. I was going to respond to the other poster, but realized I had a better chance of explaining to you the strategies involved in pursuing the fight this way...I am pro life, period. It has been PROVEN over the past 40 or more YEARS, that fighting this on the federal level is a lost cause. Whenever a state imposes restrictions, the feds overrule it. If this does indeed become a states rights issue ( and according to our constitution, it is ) the battlefields become much smaller, and easier to handle. This can then be attacked with a much greater chance of success. The problem with this approach is that there are so many that attempt to stand above everyone else, with their noses pointed skyward, and their fingers pointed downward towards the masses, that a sound strategy for fighting this cannot be formulated. The other poster holds this view, as he accused me of something that I do not believe. Our rights have been slowly eroded over many decades. To get them back is going to be a battle. I have laid out a battle plan. What is yours? To complain and put down those that are formulating plans that can lead to success??? Now, I await the "Morally Superior" to pick my post apart, accuse me of things I did not say, and then put me down as an inferior being.....

[chesley]

That’s because that’s all they have.

[who knows what evil?]

Paid for by Republicans for Planned Parenthood, a project of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Planned Parenthood is running radio ads in New Hampshire designed to turn 'common sense' Republicans (RINO's) against 'extremist' Republicans (conservatives). They claim that PP does more to reduce the number of abortions than ANYONE else...ROTFLMAO!

[wagglebee]

Big Murder has huge support among affluent whites, I suspect many of them secretly support eugenics but convince themselves that their motives are altruistic.