#ProtestPP: Nationwide Protests Against Government Funding of Planned Parenthood Underway

Many Republicans have long sought to end all federal funding to Planned Parenthood, which
AFP
Dr. Susan Berry

Activists in 45 states and the nation’s capital are rallying Saturday to urge Congress and President Donald Trump to eliminate taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood – the nation’s largest abortion business.

#ProtestPP – a coalition of state and national pro-life groups – is organizing the event and is primarily sponsored by Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Created Equal, and the Pro-Life Action League. The event will feature protests outside over 200 Planned Parenthood facilities across the United States. Demonstrations are also taking place at the London headquarters of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which was recently defunded by Trump’s executive order.

“The federal government has been subsidizing Planned Parenthood to the tune of more than $430 million annually,” explains Eric Scheidler, national organizer of #ProtestPP. “This, at the same time that the nation’s largest abortion provider holds $500 ticket fundraisers and charges a woman about $500 to abort her baby. On top of that, Planned Parenthood is trafficking baby body parts. Taxpayers are sickened to see their money spent in support of these atrocities.”

Scheidler adds:

This is a nationwide event, but at the same time it is a local community concern. As citizens gather to encourage Congress to quit sending money to an organization that specializes in killing children, they are also declaring that they do not want Planned Parenthood to continue operating in their neighborhoods.

Citizens for a Pro-Life Society director Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller also states, “The defunding of Planned Parenthood is a matter of moral principle. Not a single cent of American tax dollars should go to an organization that kills innocent human life.”

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#ProtestPP says that, contrary to Planned Parenthood’s claims to be a provider of women’s health care, it is “not a general health care service provider.”

Pro-life activists are urging Congress and Trump to eliminate Planned Parenthood’s funding and redirect it to other federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) that provide more comprehensive care for women and families, without providing abortions.

The coalition also asserts, “[F]raudulent Medicaid claims, fetal tissue harvesting, and documented health code violations show Planned Parenthood’s systemic disregard for accountability to taxpayers.”

The protests are taking place as the Republican Party has control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, and Dr. Tom Price – a pro-life physician – has just been confirmed as the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Planned Parenthood and its supporters are also planning counter-rallies Saturday as well.

“We are closer than we’ve ever been to defunding Big Abortion—Planned Parenthood. Now is the time for a groundswell of grassroots efforts,” comments Mark Harrington, national director of Created Equal. “We call on Congress and President Trump to reallocate those funds to health centers which help women without killing babies.”

“Americans want to end taxpayer funding of abortion – that includes stopping taxpayer funding for the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, and ensuring any Obamacare replacement is pro-life, and does not allow tax dollars or tax credits to pay for health care plans that include abortion,” says Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Planned Parenthood is a profit-driven, abortion-centered business that has performed more than 300,000 abortions in the last three years for which data are available. They do not need or deserve taxpayer dollars, and redirecting their federal funding to rural and community health centers would be a victory for women’s health.”

Dannenfelser notes that FQHCs “outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities 20 to 1 nationwide and provide far more services. The majority of Americans want taxpayer funding to go to real women’s health care, not abortion.”

“This Saturday, that majority will let their voices be heard at #ProtestPP gatherings nationwide,” she adds.

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