For years, NARAL and Planned Parenthood trumpeted the same canard, a false narrative that pregnancy help organizations (PHOs) coerce and manipulate women facing unplanned pregnancies.
As we know, PHOs are a haven where women and men can find true choice. We’ve worked tirelessly to make sure our climates are judgment-free, focused on the needs of our patients and clients. Over time, PHOs have grown into places where a woman or couple considering abortion can air their thoughts, gather information and ultimately draw their own conclusions on where to go next.
Yes, there’s no doubt that once someone gets a clear picture of all options at a PHO, their likelihood of choosing to carry a child is enhanced, and PHOs make no apology for this. And we shouldn’t. But information is not to be confused with coercion, so it is fair for us to ask, “Who coerces, again?”
Let’s look at the facts.
The reactive obfuscations by Planned Parenthood over the videos from the Center for Medical Progress show a consistent theme: Lying.
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Perhaps the biggest lie is the one Planned Parenthood tells its customers, that abortion is merely the removal of products of conception or tissue.
On its web page, Planned Parenthood tells potential consumers of its services that aspiration abortion is simply a procedure whereby “either a hand-held suction device or a suction machine gently empties your uterus.”
Nowhere does Planned Parenthood mention who is being “emptied,” giving the false impression that an abortion is nothing more than clearing waste out of a woman’s body. This is an obvious deception, an attempt to prevent consumers from information on what abortion actually is.
And don’t get us started on the word, “gently.”
How does this fit with the narrative laid out in these videos, where Planned Parenthood officials are casually bargaining over human body parts? Fact is, it doesn’t. Planned Parenthood is telling customers one thing and when they are in another setting, they tell quite another story. This is a lie.
Tweet This: #PPact is telling customers one thing and doing another. This is a lie. @KirkWalden #PPSellsBabyParts
Another lie is the “Three percent of all Planned Parenthood health services are abortion services” statement, thoroughly debunked by Rich Lowry in The New York Post.
Once again, Planned Parenthood tells the public one story, but anyone who spends more than five minutes in research can see—this is another lie.
And yes, Planned Parenthood tells the public that PHOs are “fake clinics” that “may lie to you” regarding abortion, “trick women with false advertising” and “may try to frighten” women.
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With Planned Parenthood in the news, it is our turn to speak clearly. We need to tell supporters and others that this is now indisputable: Planned Parenthood lies to women regarding what abortion really is, lies to the public regarding its intent and its services, and for far too long, has gotten away with lying about the work of Pregnancy Help Organizations.
Quietly and without fanfare, for decades PHOs have respected our clients and patients enough to be honest about their options, while Planned Parenthood and the abortion community use misleading and outright false information to sell their product.
Because of our honesty, Planned Parenthood and NARAL spent millions of demonizing us as pariahs, charlatans and worse.
Friends, the days of their attacks may not be over, but those days are numbered. As PHOs, we no longer have to play constant defense against these attacks; we can now step forward on the offensive, presenting ourselves as who we were all along; purveyors of hope, love, honesty and transparency.
Tweet This: More truth is coming to light, every day. @KirkWalden #PPSellsBabyParts #Prolife
And when the abortion industry seeks to tear us down, we can say with a smile, “We are who we have always been; the home of transparency, hope and true choice for those facing unplanned pregnancies. But now that Planned Parenthood has been exposed for what it has always been, we take any attack from them as proof that we are on the right track, and proof that our honesty is what sets us apart from the abortion industry.”
I’m reminded of a line in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, when Launcelot says, “Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son: give me your blessing: truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man's son may, but at the length truth will out.”
Yes, truth will out. That’s good news for all of us, because more truth is coming to light, every day.
Kirk Walden is a senior writer with Pregnancy Help News, an Advancement Specialist with Heartbeat International and author of The Wall. For banquet speaking engagements,
