Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Iowa Statesman.
By Jon the Southern Baptist
On the Front Lines of the Culture War
Unless you’ve had your head stuck in the sand for the past month, you’re probably well aware of the barrage of videos exposing the barbarism of Planned Parenthood. And, even if you haven’t watched any of them, you know they’re pretty gruesome.
So, there’s a new push to “defund” Planned Parenthood. In essence, the organization receives billions of dollars a year in donations and government subsidies to offset its expenses. And sadly, that’s the narrative that has dominated all discussion on the topic of abortion.
In Iowa, it’s an effective strategy because all but two abortion providers in the state are Planned Parenthood clinics. But, as The Iowa Statesman pointed out previously, it’s not the only baby butcher in the state. So, even if Planned Parenthood disappeared tomorrow, the scourge of abortion — taxpayer-funded abortion, no less — would remain.
Defunding Planned Parenthood is certainly an admirable goal, but it is yet another incremental approach to a problem that demands an abolitionist solution.
The videos, produced by the Center for Medical Progress, expose a number of lies that have been long-held as facts with regard to abortion. And right now, I’d like to divert from the “defund” narrative and talk about these lies, one at a time.
Lie No. 1: Prior to the 20th week of gestation, the baby isn’t “viable.”
If the child isn’t “viable” prior to the 20th week of gestation, then why are his or her body parts? Planned Parenthood has taken the concept that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole to an entirely new, sick, and twisted low. Yet, we know in the Bible that God knew each of us before we were formed in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5).
Lie No. 2: These women don’t know they’re killing babies.
Really? Even basic science requirements of Common Core cover human reproduction in junior high, and most states require ultrasounds and informed consent that requires the mother to know she is ending another human life prior to an abortion procedure. They know, and so does God. If they didn’t know, they wouldn’t have given their consent to “donate” their babies’ body parts.
Lie No. 3: Planned Parenthood ensures that abortions are rare.
From the videos, we learn that a single abortion doctor may perform as many as a dozen procedures in a single day. In. A. Day. We’ve sent serial killers to Death Row for committing half as many murders in their entire lifetimes. Planned Parenthood is a multi-billion-dollar business with more than 90 percent of its revenue coming from abortion services. That’s how 55 million lives — plus or minus 5 million — have been snuffed out over the course of 42 years.
Lie No. 4: Planned Parenthood ensures abortions are safe.
Wrong again. The videos prove, in Planned Parenthood officials’ own words, that abortion procedures are altered from their “safe” methods to more dangerous ways in order to ensure more salable “tissue” is available for sale. So, it’s Planned Parenthood’s profit margin that comes before the “health” of the women they’re supposedly helping.
Lie No. 5: Without Planned Parenthood, women would have to resort to unsafe, backstreet abortions.
As others have already noted, any secular or state-funded medical facility must perform an abortion upon a woman’s demand, except as restricted by the federal late-term abortion ban. Medicare and Medicaid may both pay for them, and all insurance policies, including those purchased through ObamaCare, must provide coverage for abortion.
Now, any one of these, alone, would be sufficient grounds to shut it all down. But by “shut it down,” I don’t just mean Planned Parenthood. The whole abortion industry needs to end. Right now.
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Jonathan Montgomery Harrington is the pseudonym for the anonymous author of Jon the Southern Baptist, who is fighting on the front lines of the culture war on a daily basis. If you have a suggestion for his contributions to The Iowa Statesman, write to him at jonsouthernbaptist@outlook.com.
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