In November 1970, two years and several months before the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, The John Birch Society published its attitude about abortion. Its widely circulated statement, never retracted or softened, pulled no punches while asserting:
Abortion is murder. When, therefore, we note the cries for relaxation of laws prohibiting abortion, liberalized attitude toward abortion, or abortion on demand, we read instead, relaxation of laws prohibiting murder, liberalized attitude toward murder, or murder on demand.
Yes, there were “legal” abortions being performed in a few states prior to the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling. States where abortion had been “legalized” were classified by many as outcasts or worse. But once the 7-2 Court decision destroyed all state laws banning the practice, the number of abortions skyrocketed. Since 1973, the lives of more than 57 million infants have been snuffed out.
The largest U.S.-based agency committing this crime, with facilities throughout the nation, is Planned Parenthood. Not only has the highest court in our nation given a green light to these baby killers, Planned Parenthood receives federal funding that fuels such work. In the single year of 2014, for instance, Planned Parenthood received $528 million taken from taxpayers, many of whom intensely abhor the practice. In that year, the number snuffed out in the womb by Planned Parenthood totaled 327,000. These were all live infants needing only a few more weeks of not being molested before they could exist outside their mother’s womb. That Americans allow this to occur, and allow themselves to be taxed to fund it, is a severe indictment of our entire nation.
Defenders of Planned Parenthood like to focus on mammograms and cancer screenings, which they claim to supply. Yes, Planned Parenthood does such beneficial work. But its main effort is abortion. And now, it has been shown that Planned Parenthood harvests healthy organs from aborted infants and sells them for profit. Asked about this at a press conference after video tapings of the organization’s officials containing admissions of such a practice surfaced, White House spokesman Josh Earnest defended Planned Parenthood insisting that the organization has “high ethical standards.” Selling the parts of murdered infants doesn’t merit being included in any real “high ethical standards.” Instead the practice merits being classified as a Hitlerian criminal act.
The Obama White House has been especially chummy with Planned Parenthood’s President Cecile Richards. According to CNS News, she has been welcomed to the White House 39 times during the Obama presidency — including four one-on-one visits with the President, two with his spouse, four with both Obamas, and the rest with a variety of the President’s assistants including Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell. Defending Planned Parenthood, Ms. Burwell pointed to preventive care such as mammograms. The problem is that most of the Planned Parenthood facilities performing abortions don’t have equipment for mammograms.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul pointed to the $10,000 campaign contribution supplied by Planned Parenthood to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The poll-leading Mrs. Clinton states, “I’m proud to stand with Planned Parenthood.” She has to know that this organization was founded by Margaret Sanger who should be known as one of the worst racists that ever claimed to be an American.
Planned Parenthood should not receive a penny of federal aid. Legalization of abortion must be abolished. And America must get back to being a place where all living humans, including those living in the womb, are treated as real persons.
John F. McManus is president of The John Birch Society and publisher of The New American. This column appeared originally at the insideJBS blog and is reprinted here with permission.
