Posted on 04/12/2002 2:57:04 PM PDT by smokinleroy
Every year since 1995, Pennsylvania’s taxpayers have written a check ranging from $2.25 million to $4.3 million that has benefited one of the most radical special-interest groups in the world — Planned Parenthood.
What is Planned Parenthood? It is a billion-dollar, international agency that is, according to its official Web site, “a powerful lobbying arm for abortion advocates and political causes.”
Those who peruse the organization’s Web site will find an encyclopedic list of attacks on United States Attorney General John Ashcroft, President George W. Bush and various pro-life leaders.
Why are Pennsylvania’s taxpayers feeding this immensely partisan, politically motivated, controversial beast? The answer is that the executive branch and many in the legislative branch have sought to pacify the radically pro-abortion movement in Pennsylvania.
Such pacification is unconscionable. Although Pennsylvanians might disagree as to whether abortion should be legal, people from all along the philosophical spectrum agree that abortion should be as rare as possible.
Americans and Pennsylvanians agree in large majorities that:
Birth is a compassionate alternative to abortion.
Tax dollars should not go to radical, activist groups with a political agenda and a singular message that harms women, especially impressionable teens with unexpected crisis pregnancies.
In the case of Planned Parenthood, the message is: “The abortionist’s office is two doors down.”
In his budget address this year, the governor proposed yet again allocating millions of taxpayer dollars — $4.3 million, to be precise — to Planned Parenthood.
I strongly urge removing from the budget every penny currently allocated to Planned Parenthood. To best appreciate why, consider Colorado’s recent experience with Planned Parenthood.
The health department in Colorado took about $382,000 in taxpayer money away from Planned Parenthood after an independent audit ordered last year by the health department found that Planned Parenthood was offering below-market-rate rent to its abortion services arm. That violated a voter-approved constitutional amendment that doesn’t allow tax money to subsidize abortions, the health department concluded.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment appeared before the legislative Joint Budget Committee to praise the clinics that have replaced Planned Parenthood in providing free breast and cervical cancer screenings and other non-abortion family planning services.
We in Pennsylvania should also de-fund Planned Parenthood, which would enable more women to make the choice to give the gift of life and have the resources to support their child when they do so.
In an ideal world, all children would be conceived by married couples who are intent either on raising them in a wholesome family environment or offering them to loving, adoptive families.
Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of women each year choose abortion rather than the gift of life. And, Planned Parenthood’s pro-abortion message is the single biggest reason why more women don’t decide to raise their children or allow others to adopt their children.
If we as a society are to succeed in encouraging more women and couples to make the compassionate choice of offering the gift of life, we must stop funding Planned Parenthood with taxpayer dollars.
I encourage every Pennsylvanian to contact his or her legislators in the General Assembly and call for an end to state funding for Planned Parenthood.
State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe
12th District
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.