The abortion giant Planned Parenthood has released its 2013 annual report and the new numbers indicate it did more abortions than the year before — killing 327,653 babies in abortions while taking in millions in taxpayer funds.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America has released its 2013-2014 Annual Report and Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League, broke down the numbers.The report indicates Planned Parenthood did 327,653 abortions in 2013, an increase over the 327,166 abortions it did in 2012.
While it remains America’s biggest abortion corporation, the “nonprofit” continued to make money — bringing in $305.4 million last year and $305.3 million this year. Planned Parenthood continued to receive over a half-billion dollars in taxpayer money, as it took in $540 million in 2012 and $528 million in 2013.
“Despite this lack of increase in its primary business, Planned Parenthood continued to receive over a half-billion dollars in taxpayer money,” Sedlak said. “It has such a tremendous publicity machine that it convinced corporate and private donors to increase donations by more than $75 million (from $315.4 million to $391.8 million).”
“The increased donations, plus an increase of $28 million in “other operating revenue” and the reduction in costs from closing clinics, led to a near-record $127.1 million in profits for the largest abortion chain in the nation. This was the second highest reported annual profit in Planned Parenthood’s history,” he explained to LifeNews.
[…]After reviewing the report, SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser told LifeNews:
“The abortion rate may be declining across America, but not in Planned Parenthood clinics. Their latest annual report is fresh evidence that Planned Parenthood remains an abortion-centered, profit-driven business. In 2013, Planned Parenthood upped the number of abortions they performed to 327,653. Meanwhile, their already limited cancer screenings, prenatal services, adoption referrals – and even contraception services – continue to drop. Planned Parenthood claims to be an altruistic health care provider for women and girls but their bottom line is all about abortion.”
Republicans have attempted to cut off some funding for Planned Parenthood in red states, but as long as we have a Democrat President, the federal subsidies will remain in place. Something to think about in 2016.
Beyond the obvious obligation we have as thinking human beings to clarify the status, and defend the value, of innocent, unborn human life, engaging in the pro-life project is also a way to make the case for the truth of Christianity in general. It stands to reason that if the scientific, philosophical, and moral arguments we offer in defense of the humanity of the unborn also happen to align exactly with the biblical notion of what it means to be a human being made “in the image of God,” then the Bible might also have something to say about other things of importance.
This is a point Scott makes repeatedly but it was recently driven home in a very concrete way by, of all people, a hard core atheist in the most recent issue of Salvo magazine. A secular skeptic, law school professor, renowned blogger, and mocker of deluded “Godiots,” the “Raving Atheist” attended a blogger party where he serendipitously sat next to a Catholic blogger named Benjamin. As the “Raving Atheist” explains:
At one point the conversation turned to abortion, and I asked Benjamin’s opinion of the practice. I was stunned. Here was a kind, affable, and cogently reasonable human being who nonetheless believed that abortion was murder. To the limited extent I had previously considered the issue, I believed abortion to be completely acceptable, the mere disposal of a lump of cells, perhaps akin to clipping fingernails.
This unsettling exchange spurred me to further investigate the issue on Benjamin’s blog. I noticed that pro-choice Christians did not employ scientific or rational arguments but relied on a confused set of “spiritual” platitudes. More significantly, the pro-choice atheistic blogosphere also fell short in its analysis of abortion. The supposedly “reality-based” community either dismissed abortion as a “religious issue” or paradoxically claimed that pro-life principles were contrary to religious doctrine. Having formerly equated atheism with reason, I was slowly growing uncertain of the value of godlessness in the search for truth.
Though the “Raving Atheist” continued to rave, there was now a stone in his God-rejecting shoe, placed there by a reasoned defense of the pro-life view. He couldn’t disconnect himself from it and later admitted that the “selfless dedication [of pro-life advocates] to their cause moved [him] deeply.” Later, he met a woman named Ashli whose work in pregnancy care drew him to further consider the pro-life position. Soon thereafter, the “Raving Atheist” became, in part, a pro-life blogsite …
Back? Ok, so what did we learn from this? Well, the moral of this story is that it is very important for Christians to have a good understanding of moral issues like abortion and same-sex marriage so that they can talk about these issues based on what they know. When someone can stake out a moral position on these kinds of issues, using science and history and other hard evidence – not just the Bible – then it helps non-Christians to take us seriously as thinkers.
Unless we demonstrate the ability to reason out there in the real world – outside the church – then we are not going to be viewed as authoritative on any subject – especially on spiritual subjects. We really need to study up on other issues, and show that we care about the unborn (abortion issue) and children (same-sex marriage issue). We have to show that there is more to us than just doing what feels good. We have to show that we are smart and that we are willing to be unpopular in order to do the right thing. That we didn’t just inherit these views from our parents, or from our culture. That we have actually thought things through more than just reading the Bible, and that it makes a difference in how we view the world, and in how we live. We don’t want people to continue in their perception that Christians are just people who play follow-the-leader – we want to show them how we have worked through these issues on our own.
Ignorance is never a good idea when you are trying to do good – and you can’t know what is really good just by your feelings and intuitions. If you want to do good, you need to be 1) convincing and 2) effective. And that takes study. Don’t choose policies based on what makes you feel good and what sounds good to others. Push for effective policies – what actually does good – and then have your arguments and evidence ready to convince people, using evidence from authorities that they accept as non-Christians. If you have the will to study a little, you can be passionate and convincing. Non-Christians respect passion and knowledge. They don’t respect fideism and mysticism.
Scott Klusendorf is the author of the best introductory book on pro-life apologetics, entitled “The Case for Life“.
On Friday, Governor Kasich signed Ohio Right to Life’s adoption reform legislation, S.B. 250, following historic bipartisan majority votes from the Senate, 29-1, and the House of Representatives, 81-4. This adoption reform will eliminate unnecessary costs, protect birth parents and adoptive families, prevent fraud and minimize the bureaucracy in the Ohio adoption process.
The following is a statement from Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life:
At present, middle-class and low-income Ohio families are essentially unable to adopt due to the accumulation of expenses during the adoption process. The adoption reform legislation targets these expenses by increasing the current $1,500 tax credit up to $10,000.
Thanks to an increased tax credit and a shortened adoption decree challenge period, Ohioans will now partake in a more simplified, affordable process that remains compassionate and supportive to birth parents.
John Kasich is definitely in the top rank of governors, along with Scott Walker, Mike Pence, Rick Perry and Bobby Jindal. Each of these governors has signed into law policies that were helpful to unborn children.
Last year, abortions in Wisconsin dropped 4.4 percent and they declined 7.4 percent the year before. Now, Wisconsin Right to Life informs LifeNews abortions int he Badger State are down another 16 percent.
“Last week, Wisconsin abortion providers stated under oath that abortions have decreased from 6,927 in 2012 to roughly 5,800 in 2013,” stated Barbara L. Lyons, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life. “This is another sharp decline of approximately 16%, continuing Wisconsin’s record as having some of the lowest abortion numbers in the country.”
[…]The abortion drop comes after pro-life Governor Scott Walker signed multiple pro-life bills into law.
In 2012, Walker added to his pro-life list of accomplishments today by signing bills the pro-life movement supported, including measures to stop abortion funding in Obamacare and webcam abortions.
Last year, Walker signed Senate Bill 206 (Sonya’s Law) into law. This important new law requires that women seeking abortions in Wisconsin be given the opportunity to see their unborn children through ultrasound.
Texas governor Rick Perry signed a ban on late-term abortions, and a law that closed abortion clinics:
Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a pro-life bill into law July 19 banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges at hospitals close to their abortuaries. The immediate result was Planned Parenthood’s decision to shutter three of its clinics even as pro-abortion activists vowed to work to overturn the law — and as at least one abortionist reportedly indicated he would defy the law.
[…]The Associated Press reported that in addition to the ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, the law “restricts abortions to surgical centers and requires doctors who work at abortion clinics to have hospital admitting privileges. Only five of the 42 abortion clinics in Texas … currently meet those new requirements. Clinics will have a year to either upgrade their facilities or shut down after the law takes effect in October.”
Immediately after Perry signed the bill into law, Planned Parenthood threw in the towel on three of its abortion facilities, closing their doors rather than shelling out money for the requisite upgrades.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal today signed pro-life bills that could close three of the state’s five abortion clinics. Jindal has been a staunchly pro-life governor and he is putting into law more pieces of pro-life legislation that has, under his administration, made Louisiana one of the most pro-life states in the nation.
The Louisiana state legislature sent to Jindal HB 388, the Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, that the Planned Parenthood abortion business says could close three of the five abortion clinics in the state.
“This bill will give women the health and safety protections they deserve,” Jindal said.
When the state of Texas clamped down on abortion clinics that could not follow basic health and safety standards and failed to ensure abortion practitioners had admitting privileges at local hospitals in cases where women are injured in botched abortions, abortion clinics closed down because they couldn’t comply. As many as 20 Texas abortion clinics have closed or stopping doing abortions.
Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest commended Indiana Governor Mike Pence and leading pro-life legislators for enacting a measure that protects Hoosiers from forced funding of abortion-related services via their health insurance plans.
This week Governor Pence signed into law HB 1123, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Thompson, which is based on AUL model legislation.
The bill prohibits “accident and sickness insurance policies” from covering abortion in most circumstances except through a separate rider. This law makes Indiana the ninth state to prohibit private insurance plans operating within their states from covering most abortions.
Republican governors do more than just balance the books and grow the economy. You will never see Democrat governors signing bills to help unborn children like this.
In case you’re wondering, Scott Walker is my pick for President in 2016, but I’ll take any of the governors in this post. At least we know they can marshal pro-life bills into pro-life laws.
WINTERY KNIGHT 