LIFE DIGEST: Planned Parenthood offers ‘Herod certificates’
- Dec 2, 2008 - comment
Planned Parenthood, which already has found ways to celebrate abortion at Christmas and Mother’s Day, is offering a new service to yuletide shoppers—gift certificates that can be redeemed for the killing of unborn babies.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana, which has 35 affiliates across the state, is providing gift certificates during the Christmas season for such services as annual examinations and contraceptives, the Associated Press reported. The certificates also can be used to pay for abortions. “I certainly don’t think anyone would consider giving it for that purpose,” Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Kate Shepherd said, according to AP.
That judgment about Planned Parenthood’s customers is not comforting for pro-life advocates.
“The word ‘inappropriate’ hardly describes Planned Parenthood’s scheme,” said Alveda King, pastoral associate of Priests for Life and a niece of the late Martin Luther King Jr. “To give someone a gift card from the nation’s largest abortion business is to give death for Christmas. Planned Parenthood really should call these ‘King Herod certificates’ after [the ruler] who slaughtered tiny babies in his vain attempt to kill the baby Jesus. Better yet, it should just leave Christmas, a celebration of birth, hope and life, completely alone.”
It is not the first time Planned Parenthood has refused to leave Christmas alone. In past years, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) has sold “Choice on Earth” Christmas cards. Its “Choice on Earth” slogan was a pernicious twist on “peace on earth,” part of the message the angels declared to the shepherds upon the announcement of the birth of Jesus, according to Luke 2.
In May, PPFA found a way to degrade Mother’s Day as well. PPFA President Cecile Richards and mother-daughter actresses Blythe Danner and Gwyneth Paltrow wrote emails asking for Mother’s Day gifts to the organization. Planned Parenthood enabled donors to give in honor or memory of their mothers or others, as well as have a Mother’s Day card sent to someone from PPFA.
PPFA’s affiliates performed nearly 290,000 abortions in 2006, the latest year for which statistics are available. PPFA surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time last year, with more than $336 million of that total coming in grants and contracts from the federal and state governments.
Doctor with Down syndrome son gains Australia residency
An Australian official has overturned a government agency’s decision to deny a German doctor’s request for permanent residency because his 13-year-old son has Down syndrome.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans issued the ruling Nov. 26, the same day on which a government board had upheld the original decision by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Evans’ action means Bernhard Moeller and his family will be able to remain in Australia after their temporary visa runs out in March 2010, according to CNN.
Bernhard Moeller and his family moved to Australia two years ago for him to practice in a rural area of Victoria state that has a shortage of physicians. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship rejected Moeller’s application for permanent residency because his son, Lukas, “did not meet the health requirement,” according to the department. The rejection came because a medical official had determined Lukas’ condition “was likely to result in a significant and ongoing cost to the Australian community,” a department spokesman said.
Evans told the Senate he had urged regional officials to change the rules so health requirements could be waived in specific cases, CNN reported. “Dr. Moeller is providing a much needed service in the area, the family [has] integrated very well and they have substantial community support,” Evans said before the Senate.
Down syndrome normally results when a person has three copies, rather than two, of chromosome 21. The condition typically is marked by mental and physical impairments. People with Down syndrome have a wide range of abilities.
Russian city observes ‘week without abortion’
A Russian city declared Nov. 24-28 as a “week without abortion” in an effort to combat the country’s declining population.
Officials of Novorossiysk, which is in Southern Russia near the Black Sea, banned abortions, except those in the “most extreme cases,” on those dates, Russia Today reported.
Russia’s population of 144 million is expected to shrink to 115 million by 2050, although another estimate predicts a decline to 77 million, according to Cybercast News Service.
During the week, numerous events took place to counter the use of abortion as a method of birth control, a common practice in Russia:
- Universities in the city showed films depicting the negative impact of abortion.
- Psychologists and gynecologists provided counseling to help pregnant women prepare for motherhood.
- A hotline was set up to answer questions from pregnant women.
“[D]octors will do everything they can to stop women from doing the irreparable,” a city official said, according to Russia Today, a Moscow-based news network.
Russia has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, with nearly 70 percent of all pregnancies ending in the procedure. In 2004, Russia’s abortions surpassed its births by 100,000, Russia Today reported.
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