Should Christians Support Planned Parenthood?
There has been a lot of talk about Planned Parenthood in the media the last few weeks. Much of this talk has centered around the group doing certain things in abortions to allow them to sell body parts, the GOP’s intent to defund the organization, and the President’s claims to veto any bill that would do just that. At the end of this past week, it appears that not enough votes were given to formally defund the group. But regardless of what our government does with our tax dollars, as Christians, we must ask ourselves whether we should support or condemn the work they are doing.
First, it is worth noting that the leaked videos were obtained by deception. This calls into question their validity. I do not believe the end justifies the means. This means that it was morally wrong to go about obtaining the information on the videos in an unethical manner. This however, does not discount the information in the videos. There is no way that the videos can be construed to show the group in a positive light.
Second, many who support Planned Parenthood focus on all the other things that Planned Parenthood does. They provide breast exams, they test for STD’s, they offer prenatal services for women who want to keep their babies, etc. These are all good things. Supporters then emphasize that abortions make up only 3% of all the forms of care they provide. While this is true, they don’t emphasize that the 3% equals over 300,000 abortions per year. They also neglect to share that Planned Parenthood accounts for 30% of all abortions performed in America each year.
So what do we do? On one hand, the organization aids women (and men) in a number of important healthcare concerns that are indeed very good. On the other, they assist in something that Christians have condemned officially since the first century AD. In fact, in the Didache, a book about the moral character of Christians, penned between 60 and 90 AD, it states, “thou shalt not procure abortion, nor commit infanticide (2.4).”
The big deal with abortions and Christianity is the belief that life is a gift from God. Christians believe, and the Bible teaches, that God knits people together in the womb. It teaches that God breathes life into each individual person. It teaches that God knows us in our development before the birth event. Christians oppose abortion because we see it as murder. It is the murder of a life that has no voice of its own. It is the murder of the innocent, and it is legalized as a way for people to avoid consequences of certain actions.
Now here let me pause and say a few things about actions. I know some will say, “but what if a person is pregnant because she was raped,” or “what if a person has an ectopic pregnancy?” I am not saying that abortions are never necessary, but rarely are they the only option and a necessary procedure to save a person’s life. The ectopic pregnancy is the exception. For a woman who is raped, that is a tragic event. The life in her is still no less valuable. I would recommend that a person in this circumstance look into adoption if she is unable to cope with the idea of raising the child herself. But why let one bad event result in the prevention of another person’s opportunity to live? One more thing worth noting is that we are all born into sin. Birth defects, mental issues, identity issues, and other such things that make us less than perfect when we are born are a result of sin. But for whatever reason, God allows different people to be born with certain ailments. Some that will last for a person’s entire life. Regardless of any ailments a person is born with, and regardless of the circumstances surrounding a person’s birth (unwed parents, one night stands, etc.), each person is intrinsically valuable in the sight of God. All people bear God’s image and we have no right to prevent them from having a chance at life.
Back to the issue at hand. I believe that all humans have a right to live outside of the womb. Those who are killed in the womb through elective medical procedures are in-fact murdered. This is antithetical to all that God has in mind for life. It goes against his first command to humans to be fruitful and multiply. The support of abortion has no part in Christianity.
All of the services offered by Planned Parenthood that are good and that Christians can get on board with are also provided by alternative healthcare groups that do not practice abortions. At the same time, many groups besides Planned Parenthood provide abortions. So to say that we do not support a hospital that specializes in cardiovascular surgery because it also provides abortions, seems a bit out of place. What makes Planned Parenthood different from most hospitals is that they only provide care as it concerns prenatal care. They test for STD’s and Cancer, but they do not provide treatments for most of these, only diagnosis. There are some STD’s they can help people with, but not all. A hospital is an all-inclusive place for medical treatment.
But what about all the jobs that would be lost if Planned Parenthood lost its funding? Anytime people are put out of work it is tragic. But I do not suggest closing the doors on Planned Parenthood. Instead, I suggest that we as Christians become more vocal about our belief in the sanctity of life. We take a moral stand against the murder of the innocent. We push for places like Planned Parenthood to be banned from practicing elective abortions (even in early terms). And when we find ourselves in need of prenatal care, we find alternative places to go that do not provide abortions.
I do not suggest that we go around bombing Planned Parenthood clinics. I do not suggest that we insult all people employed by Planned Parenthood, and we do not assume that everyone who visits a Planned Parenthood clinic has murder in her heart. Instead, we pray for the leaders of Planned Parenthood. We pray that God will change their minds about what they are doing and providing. We pray for the employees that they will not turn to suicide, depression, or other inadequate fixes for any emotions that may be overwhelming them in light of recent media coverage. We pray that God would draw to himself all those who are involved in Planned Parenthood. And as Christians, we pray for young mothers (especially those who are without support) that they would be willing to give their little one’s a chance in this world (either as their own or as one adopted by another family).
What is your attitude towards Planned Parenthood? How does it need to change? And what are you going to do to make that happen?
As something else to think about, here is an article on why the group cannot donate some tissues of aborted babies. This story was shared with me by a dear friend and colleague, Dr. Philip Mitchell: http://thefederalist.com/2015/07/29/why-planned-parenthood-cant-donate-tissue-from-harvested-babies/#.Vb6e9pQH6sA.twitter
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About The Author
Dr. Scott Shiffer
Dr. Scott Shiffer has a Ph.D. in Christian Theology from the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute and has been teaching religion classes since 2006. He leads Transformation Media Ministries, an organization to help believers think biblically about culture in America. Scott has given numerous presentations including one at Oxford. He has spoken at church retreats, youth retreats, conferences, and has taught discipleship classes for over 10 years. Scott is married and has three children. He has a heart for helping believers draw closer to God and for aiding them as they are faced with new challenges in America every day.
Protestants didn’t find abortion morally objectionable prior to “quickening” until about 40 years ago.
Steven,
This is simply not true. First, all Christians found abortion objectionable from the first century through the reformation. Second, it was not until the reformation that Protestants even existed. For the first hundred years or so (basically 1550 to 1700) Protestants were focused on defining what it meant for them to no longer be part of the Roman Catholic church. After that they could more easily turn to issues such as abortion. Even so, one can find moral theologians who discuss the issue in every century of the church. It is not discussed as much as other issues because prior to the issue becoming legal in the US, it was assumed that it was a closed case issue. So more has been written in the last 40 to 60 years, but it has always been the position of evangelicals.
I continue to be interested in this, from a personal and professional angle. Could someone please tell what are the verses that can be used to directly support the pro-life position?
Yes I understand that the 10 commandments, and any number of different texts on the immorality of infanticide may apply. Yet I am particularly interested in those texts which directly address the personhood of the fetus, and/or condemn abortion directly in any/some/all cases.
James,
Here are the verses that are normally sited: Psalm 139:14 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” This suggest that it is God who is developing the person in the womb.
Another is Psalm 71:6 “Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.” This verse suggests that life begins in the womb since it is before birth.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 states, “As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb[a] of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.” This verse shows that the spirit or soul is put in into the child in the womb.
And one other verse is in Luke 1:41/44 “41And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb…44For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” These two verses suggest that the child in the womb is alive and has emotions.
James, I know there are others, but these are enough to show that life in the womb is valuable. Also, see my comment below on the verse from Leviticus.
The term, fetus is never used in Scripture because it is a modern day scientific term. I do find it interesting that even in the media today, when Kate Middleton is pregnant, the unborn fetus is referred to as a child, but when the child is unwanted, it is referred to as a fetus. This suggests that even the media tries to separate emotional attachment from the child in the womb when trying to support abortion.
I preface my comment by stating I detest abortion.
During one rather heated (and fruitless) online interchange, a pro abortion interlocutor alerted me to thr following link from The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, listing several KJV Old Testament citations that seem to tolerate or condone abortion. How would you respond?
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/says_about/abortion.html
Aaron,
Thanks for this link. I had not seen this particular page before. I think one problem with using the KJV is that it (depending on the year of publication) has a lot of archaic use of terms. The first verse on the site hardly even makes sense. Any modern translation clears up the confusion.
Here is what the first verse they use states:
Abortion is not murder. A fetus is not considered a human life.
If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life. — Exodus 21:22-23
The question it raises is what does mischief even mean here? Here is a modern version in the ESV:
22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm,[d] then you shall pay life for life”
Here we see that the verse is saying that if the woman goes into labor and the child is born and is healthy, no harm was done, but if the woman goes into labor and the child is either born dead or dies shortly after, the offending person is to forfeit his own life. In other words, the website uses the verse to state that abortion is not murder but that is a completely wrong interpretation of the text.
The same sorts of problems exist for every other passage on the page. The context is almost completely ignored. The claims are imposed upon the verses quoted, and none of these verses are normally used to justify or support abortion.
To be fair, I don’t think lack of context discredits every example given. Moses’ instructing the slaughter of non-virgin women during as part of revenge on the Midianites, in Numbers 31, likely could have included pregnant women.
It most likely did, but the context surrounding the passage is that these women caused the Israelite’s to do detestable things before the Lord. Calling for them to be slaughtered was not intended to support abortion. The context is in keeping the people of God from worshiping false gods and bringing those into the camp who would draw the people further away from the Lord. It obviously seems extreme by today’s standards, but that is why we have progressive revelation. Some of these practices were updated over time. Today no one would argue that Christians should wipe out any people group. Well, some might, but no real Christians.
Abortion is from the modern western society, to try to find something in scripture against or for it is not reasonable. It would be like trying to find a reference to smart phones or video games in scripture, you won’t find it. To treat human life in any form as invaluable is not acceptable and immoral period. If it was the right thing to do, people wouldn’t be trying to hard to justify it and explain it. Most people don’t know even how many abortion occur each year, the number is staggering and insane. The 3rd world population is over taking the west due in part to the immense amount of abortions that occur in the west. The west is suppose to be educated and intelligent and people still can’t seem to prevent unwanted pregnancies though common sense and education.
I do not fully agree with this. Modern methods are different, but the practice of abortion is nearly as old as the human race. There are clearly Scriptures that support life and require consequence for killing a child in the womb. See my comments above. As for the second part of your comment, concerning the decline in western population, that makes sense.
Excellent article. As a side note I would like to mention that I have been curious about the Planned Parenthood claim that they provide prenatal services since my first pregnancy 5 years ago. I went to Planned Parenthood for birth control and women’s health services for several years; however, when I was having trouble with bleeding in the early months of my first pregnancy (I was without insurance, an obgyn, and waiting on state Medicaid coverage for my pregnancy to begin) I called the Planned Parenthood where I had been getting my birth control and was told they did not provide any prenatal services. I asked if there was any way for me to see one of their obgyn’s, asked if I could get a sonogram, and finally asked if there was anywhere they could at least refer me to get help for my baby. There was a great deal of awkward silence on the other end of the line, and the final response was “Are you considering an abortion? Because we don’t do any of those (prenatal service) things.”
Emily,
Thanks for sharing. That is is an interesting situation. Perhaps it is determined by the Planned Parenthood facility. I know that not all provide the same services. But it has long been thought that much of what they do is cater towards those who do not wish to keep their children. Either way, I am saddened to hear about the interaction you had with them.
Thanks for this post, Scott, and the link at the end. I hate abortion, but I don’t want to make it completely illegal. Women will always have abortions. They can either be legal and safe (which is what legislation should focus on) or illegal and dangerous (except for rich folks). I hate war too–it’s horrific and heartbreaking–but I understand it as a necessary evil. We live in an imperfect world with imperfect solutions. Abortions are horrifying and heartbreaking, and so are the stories of women who sought desperate help from underground butchers. If we are really going to be pro-life, we have to pray and work and legislate for all of these least of these.
I also believe that images of life are more effective than images of death. Not that we should avoid the latter, or never use them to tell the truth, but I think 4D sonograms at 3 weeks on social media has been and continues to be perhaps the most effective anti-abortion “campaign” ever. Let’s be pro-life. And advocate more for life than against death.
Thanks Renea!!! I am also an advocate of using life to promote life. I very much like the idea of showing sonograms!!!
From PP’ s published numbers-
Adoption referrals- 2,197
Prenatal services- 19,506
Abortions- 327,166
Abortion as a percentage of pregnancy services- 93.8
Kate,
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate you using Planned Parenthood’s own published numbers. That is certainly something to consider when looking at how to pray for this group. It is also something to look at before trusting them for advice on anything prenatal that does not end in the death of a little one.
This is a bit of a tangent from your article but…
I think we need to be careful how we define “abortion”. In one sense, any time a pregnancy is ended in any way, it could be called an abortion because the pregnancy is “aborted” or “stopped”. But there are miscarriages, ectopic, molar pregnancies and many other issues that can occur that really have nothing to do with what we’re talking about with Planned Parenthood.
I had an ectopic pregnancy just over a year ago. It’s not a viable pregnancy. Ending it is not just because the mother will most likely die if it’s not ended, it’s also because there is no way the fetus can grow and thrive. It’s literally like a fish trying to live out of water. The fertilized egg can’t grow in the fallopian tube as the needs can’t be met. I know there are things online saying possibly the baby can live, but I believe that’s only if the fertilized egg has implanted somewhere near the uterus but is not an ideal location. This is a very, very rare ectopic occurrence.
Also, most miscarriages are a result of genetic abnormalities where the fertilized egg was never a viable pregnancy. Many miscarriages happen before/without anyone realizing it happens because it happens so early.
In focusing so much on telling people that life begins at conception I wonder how much harm we are doing to people who have these issues (like myself). I understand the point of “at conception” for a viable pregnancy but really wonder if it never is/was viable is that true?
Bethany,
I would not consider necessary medical procedures the same as elective procedures, so you are right in the need to be clear in how we define abortion. We have experienced miscarriages. We had a lot of questions and grief, but concluded that for whatever reason, the pregnancy did not work out because God must have wanted those children with him now. I do believe that life begins at conception, and that for any viable pregnancy, we should not perform actions that would endanger that. However, even for nonviable pregnancies, I would still argue that life begins at conception. When David’s first son is born with Bathsheba, he dies within a few days. David states that he will go to him, but that the son will not return to our world now. David had hope that he would one day see this son. I believe that when ectopic, molar, abnormal and other such pregnancies occur that result in miscarriage or the necessary need for operations or other such practices that end the pregnancy, then those children are with the Lord. We will go to them even though they do not get to be with us in the present time. God has a purpose for every human life, and all life is valuable. If a pregnancy is nonviable, God still has a plan for that child’s life. He wants those children with him now for his own purposes. This is a very personal issue for me as well. I would never want to do damage or harm to those who have lost children by stating that life begins at conception, but I do believe that when a child is conceived it is infused with a soul at that moment. I jut don’t think in those situations that we need to focus solely on the tragedy. God has a plan and a purpose for those children, even if we do not know exactly what it is. Perhaps, this is part of the reason why in Revelation there are so many in heaven that it is too many to count. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I believe that thanks to the passages posted by Scott, and the skeptic’s annotated Bible, I have all the passages I need which address this issue directly or indirectly.
It makes great sense to me that an induced abortion would be sometimes moral, and sometimes immoral. In the same way that God’s commands are moral, because they are issued by God, and given that God did command the deaths of children, infants, and pregnant women at different points in the Bible, then it must be moral in some cases for a person to have an induced abortion. Of course here I am treading on the complex and confusing ground of the problem of abhorrent commands.
God cannot fail to be moral, and yet the Bible shows God carrying out events which seem quite atrocious. Of course that’s why it’s the problem of evil, and it won’t be easily resolved.
As a secondary issue I am curious as to whether or not anyone has written a book on the evolving nature of the church’s view on abortion. I found a good article on it here, http://jezebel.com/the-history-of-abortifacients-1658993381.
You say “it was morally wrong to go about obtaining the information on videos” and question their validity. As I am sure you know, the unedited videos are available to the public. The videos shed light on some of the most horrific and inhumane practices imaginable, I think we can all agree with that. The videos shed light on the TRUTH and give us hope that we can stop the trafficking of body parts and the killing of babies born alive. Without the videos, there would have been nothing to curtail these practices and it is reasonable to believe that the practices could have become even more frequent and widespread. If YOU had suspected that this organization was engaged in selling body parts and killing babies, what would you have done? Reported it to law enforcement? The same law enforcement who is presently seeking to punish states who are trying to defund PP? What if your approach was unsuccessful in stopping these abhorrent activities? These videos do not harm anyone. These videos serve to protect the lives of innocent babies and who knows just how many lives they may save. With all due respect, it beyond me how you could begin this article questioning the validity of videos which make a very clear case against PP and then call their tactics immoral. Please consider this question: Would you rather not have the videos?…because it sounds like that is what you are saying.
Lisa, I do not think I can agree with you that these videos are automatically damning. On the one hand none of these videos conclusively proves that fetal body parts are being distributed for profit, aka the trafficking of human organs. Instead the videos consistently show that there is an operating cost in the distribution of legally donated tissues. (See this link for a rather thorough debunking of every video, http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/08/31/a-comprehensive-guide-to-the-deceptively-edited/205264)
Now Insofar as a fetus is an ensouled human life then of course any form of abortion involves the destruction of that human life.
If we take it as a given that murder is wrong, and that abortion is murder since it involves the taking of an innocent human life, then abortion is wrong always. Since the moral status of the fetus never changes, aka the fetus is always an innocent human life, then to kill it is always wrong regardless of any circumstances.
However there is no special or added moral problem in the manner of abortion or the age of abortion, if abortion is always immoral. That is, it should not matter whether the abortion was chemically induced, or a partial-birth abortion, if the relevant issue is whether or not abortion involves the taking of an innocent life. That which is supremely immoral is not made any worse, nor could it be made any better, by the manner in which it is carried out. For instance, if we had a method of abortion which was agreed to be painless and humane, we would still have a profound problem with the practice.
Additionally we do not seem to have a problem, as a society, with the donation of human tissues for medical or scientific research. I suppose the issue here is that since a fetus cannot consent to its own destruction then it also cannot consent to its body being used for scientific research. So the fetuses right to choose, as well as its right to life, have been thoroughly violated. However the basic moral problem remains with abortion itself, not with the use of fetal tissues in medical research. After all the MMR vaccine was developed using fetal tissues, although it should be said that Catholics have always opposed that particular version of the vaccine (more info here http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/human-cell-strains-vaccine-development)
I write this to say that a campaign designed to highlight the atrocities of planned parenthood by playing on our emotions and attempting to shock our sympathies does little more than to foment reactionary hatred. Those who are pro-life have always been of the mindset that abortion is wrong. Those who are pro-choice have always been of the mindset that abortion can be sometimes right.
James,
The videos speak for themselves. Therefore, it isn’t necessary to rely upon Media Matter’s progressive analysis. My hope is that every adult will watch the videos and use their own intellect to draw conclusions instead of depending on a contrived narrative. If you have, indeed, see all of the videos for yourself and do not think they are damning, then there is really nothing more to say. We clearly have a very different set of values and a different version of right and wrong.
Well don’t give up on my sense of morality just yet. After all I have a profound suspicion for the veracity of information obtained under duress or through deception. Lying is not the best way to get the truth out of someone.
I am also deeply suspicious of attempts to manipulate my emotions, and blatant attempts to manipulate the facts.
Let’s just say it is quite difficult for me to trust an organization which I know has lied to me on 8 different occasions, which has a definite political agenda that is absolutely influencing all of their work, and which has blatantly broken the law. http://www.buzzfeed.com/danvergano/cmp-legal-problems
Beyond that I tend to be somewhat moderate on the issue of abortion itself. I would argue that an abortion can be sometimes morally justified, and sometimes not justified.
I don’t support mandatory forced abortions anymore than I support an absolute legal ban on all abortions for any reason. So that puts me somewhere in the middle.
James,
Ok…the abortion debate is an entirely different and separate issue altogether. What we are seeing in the videos (and I think you would agree that the people interviewed in them are for real) is the trafficking of body parts, the killing of babies who were born alive and some incomprehensible human rights violations. We see the people in them completely cavalier about what they are doing and even joking about wanting to make enough profit from the selling of body parts to buy a sports car. I understand why you are skeptical because you think the organization responsible for the videos has an agenda….but their motivation (whatever it is) does not make these revelations any less true. The people in the video were talking freely and you can see the entire footage. Even the edited videos do not take comments out of context. There are numerous issues here that need to be addressed but the most pressing one is the infanticide. The MSM is trying to make this about abortion, fetal tissue research, and the need to cover that cost. Then they focus on how immoral it was for this group to be deceptive. They do this to distract from what the most obvious concern…which is that we have an industry whose function is (in part) to use ultrasound technology to gather intact babies to sell…and if that means “post-birth” abortions then so be it. This is what they don’t want people to know.
Perhaps a different approach is needed from me.
You are right that these videos allege some very troubling things. If the Center for Medical Progress is even half right then Planned Parenthood and StemExpress are guilty of infanticide, the illegal trafficking of human organs, the violation of doctor patient confidentiality, and probably a whole host of crimes. These interviews, some with current and some with ex-employees of the two organizations, raise some seriously troubling questions.
Yet these videos do not, in and of themselves, provide evidence of illegal activities. They do however provide the impetus for investigations into the activities of Planned Parenthood. Thanks to these videos we now know that we need to look into their activities and shut down any clinics where these activities, all of which are prohibited by law, are happening.
That is why some states are conducting investigations, and some states have skipped the investigations altogether and are simply defunding Planned Parenthood.
Yet none of these investigations has yet turned up any proof of those illegal activities which Planned Parenthood is being alleged to have committed.
That is the reason that I don’t think these videos are damning. I think that they should, and have, spur some much needed investigations into these activities. Infanticide and organ trafficking is not just illegal it is also immoral in the highest possible regards. These are serious allegations and they need to be investigated, which they are. Yet there is, as of my posting anyways, no evidence of illegal activities.
More information can be obtained here, http://liveactionnews.org/5-states-defund-13-states-investigate-planned-parenthood/
and here http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/08/15/3691997/planned-parenthood-investigations-fall-flat/
Lisa,
Thanks for your comment. When I speak about the validity of the videos I am referring to the manner in which they were obtained. I completely agree that they shed light on horrific practices and that these practices must be stopped. Something else no one has talked about is who is buying these body parts. My wife has looked into this and found that many are buying purchased by schools. If the group had no buyers it would also help put a stop to the practice. I am in no way saying I would rather not have the videos, but it would have been nice if the cameras had not been hidden. Often videos like these are not able to be used in court cases because they were not properly obtained. So while they do much to raise public awareness, I don’t think they will work in a legal way. Regardless, I know PP would not have made the same statements had they allowed filming. But I think it is important that people go about exposing horrors in a legal way so that the evidence has more weight in a court. I think it is important not to lose sight of our own morals when we seek to stop the immoral. You ask what I would have done, and I am not really sure, but it is certainly worth thinking about.
Thanks for your response. I agree that we should respect the law. Ideally, it would have been better to inform law enforcement of the suspected crimes and have them coordinate an under cover operation. Unfortunately, we have a broken justice system. The IRS is a prime example. The majority of Americans acknowledge the IG report that conservative groups were “inappropriately” targeted yet polling shows that over 70 percent of Americans don’t think that justice will be served. People have lost faith in the system. If you think about the Holocaust, harboring a Jew would have been against the law. The Nazis were clearly in the wrong and the lawbreakers were clearly in the right….so sometimes what is right and what is lawful is not always the same. I also agree that the end does not justify the means as a general rule. However, in this case, the goal was to save innocent lives making it hard to argue that what they did was wrong.
I think Lisa is making a good point here. I can think of countless biblical examples of folks who exemplified what Jesus would later prescribe as “be[ing] innocent as doves and shrewd as serpents.”
I think Christians should be questioning if they should support the Church, given all of the reports of ongoing financial corruption, hypocrisy, child abuse and spiritual abuse. Before calling to defund Planned Parenthood, volunteer the revocation of tax exempt status since that in effect is funding.
I do think Aaron makes a valid point about looking inward before looking outward. Something we aren’t often practiced in.
Aaron,
There is corruption that goes on in some churches, namely because people are corrupt. I doubt that any organization is completely without fault. When churches discover that someone has been acting in a corrupt manner, either with finances or other moral issues, the person is to be removed from office. The difference with PP and churches is that PP leadership openly supports something that churches view as a moral evil. I have written elsewhere about not being concerned with losing tax exempt status and I do see that as a form of funding, but your comment suggests to me that you have some bitterness or anger against the church. While this is unfortunate, I am aware that churches have often hurt people and believe that you likely have a good reason for feeling this way. But I do see a difference between what PP is doing ad what goes on in churches, because most people in the church would put a stop to the abuses in their local congregation (and do) once made aware of them.
Great article here on how the investigations are going to proceed.
http://dailysignal.com/2015/09/01/how-the-3-congressional-investigations-of-planned-parenthood-will-work/
James,
These are great articles. Thanks for sending. I have been following this infanticide issue ever since I discovered that Obama, as a state senator, opposed a state version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. The explanation he gave for his opposition (during his first run for president) was found to be false (WAPO I think) In any case, the transcripts of the arguments made in opposition of this legislation (intended to protect infants born alive after abortions) are available for anyone to read. The reason that states were writing their own version of the federal law was because after birth abortions were becoming more prevalent. Remember Kermit Gosnell? And recall the silence on this issue? Obama’s stance and the temptation to profit from infanticide is a bad combination. If you have noticed, the DNC platform is moving in a direction that aligns with this view…that infants should not be afforded basic human rights or that, a mother’s desire to terminate her baby trump’s the babies right to live even after it is born or that, infants are the property of the govt. Read up on Obama’s appointee, John Holdren, to get a better sense of how he views human life. I hope the investigations will lead to justice. I could be wrong but I don’t see federal charges coming no matter what. If it does happen I predict it be won’t until 2017.
Balanced treatment, and thoughtful comments. I want to offer one point of disagreement, concerning the defunding decision. As you say, we don’t want legitimate health services to be unavailable, and we don’t want PP employees to lose their jobs. But I suggest that neither of these things need to happen if PP is de-funded. That simply frees up the same federal dollars to distribute to other healthcare providers. Those other providers will need that funding to take on the increased demand at their facilities. With any major change like this, I imagine there will be a short period of disruption that might be difficult for some individuals (who may need services immediately but where the other providers haven’t been able to ramp up yet.) But a temporary disruption usually doesn’t get in the way of progress toward a legitimate larger purpose.