August, 2011

Racial targeting and population control: How Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin fits in

  • August 29, 2011
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Life Decisions International just released a comprehensive look at Planned Parenthood facilities (those that perform abortion and/or provide birth control) and how the location of those facilities corresponds to the percentage of minorities (Black and Hispanic) in those areas.

Why is this a concern? In contemporary America, the rate of pregnancy among black women is almost three times as high as it is for white women and, though they make up less than 13% of the female population, black women have about 37% of the abortions. In Wisconsin, black babies are aborted at four times the rate of their numbers in the Wisconsin population.

Access the LDI report here [PDF]. An excerpt from the report:

As an example of how these charts work, the state of Florida shows to have a black population of 14.6%. In that state, Planned Parenthood has a facility in ZIP code 33617 which has a black population of 23.5%. This means that this facility is located in a ZIP code with an African-American population that is 187.6% that of the state.

But when those gaps are common enough or large enough that they cannot be rationally attributed to random chance, they constitute a pattern that could have only been created by design and intention.

The question then becomes: at what point does a gap stop being insignificant and start being significant? Given the subjective nature of that question, the deciding principle has to be common sense. If a ZIP code’s percentage of black or Hispanic population is 102% of the state’s percentage, no reasonable person would consider that an indicator of racial targeting.

However, when a state has multiple population control facilities in ZIP codes with minority populations that exceed 125% of the state’s overall minority population, common sense says that racial targeting is the plausible explanation.

It should also be noted that this eugenics effort is being funded with taxpayer money. Currently, Planned Parenthood alone receives approximately one million dollars a day from the federal government plus an unknown amount in state and local funds. Moreover, this has been going on for decades.

How does Wisconsin fare? [chart below]

One more reason pro-life efforts can not exclude the abortion-contraception connection. Tackling abortion but not contraception is simply turning a blind eye to the role contraception plays in the abortion industry.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin received $18 million in state and federal funding in 2010. Approximately $1 million of that funding was recently cut in the state’s budget. In addition,  an open records request to every county in the state revealed the following counties wrote checks to Planned Parenthood totaling:  Dane County, $50,660.04; Fond du Lac County, $1,052.50; Manitowoc County, $13,589; Outagamie County, $10,872.59; and Sheboygan County, $11,903.51.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to educate on children as sexual beings

  • August 25, 2011
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In line with Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s “Children are sexual beings” mantra, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will be holding free seminars [with your tax dollars, make no mistake about that] on child sexuality. There are “workshops” on other topics as well, such as STD prevention, birth control and teens. [PDF here.]

For those who missed it, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) now describes children and infants as “sexual beings.” Story from News Busters here [warning: disturbing content.]

CHILDREN WOULDN’T KNOW ABOUT SEX IF PEOPLE DIDN’T TEACH THEM ABOUT SEX!

That “workshop” smacks of pedophilia.

Casting call for anyone who wants to attend a (free) Planned Parenthood event… My contact info is to the right. I attended a PPWI event this winter, where a post-abortive college student described how she had an abortion at age 17, circumventing Wisconsin’s parental consent law with Planned Parenthood’s help. In that case, Planned Parenthood referred the young woman to a pro-abortion judge, who overrode the parental consent law — the reasoning being that the girl’s parents were pro-life and thereby opposed to abortion.

This round of seminars promises to be equally disturbing.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin sees 180% increase in private donations after loss of taxpayer funding

  • August 22, 2011
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In a remarkably coincidental situation as Planned Parenthood of Indiana found itself in (including sympathetic reporters), Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is claiming to see a significant increase in the size and number of donations, but — surprise, surprise! — that won’t be enough to cover the loss of taxpayer dollars.

From the Oshkosh Northwestern:

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin has experienced a significant increase in the number of new donors this year, but these new donors have not provided enough money to close the gap left by the state budget that slashed more than $1 million from the organization to help shore up the state’s $3 billion shortfall. [What this article fails to mention: $1 million of PPWI's $18 million in taxpayer funding was cut; hardly draconian or extensive]

The agency that provides birth control services and health screenings — as well as abortions and abortion referrals at three of its 27 centers statewide — has experienced a 180 percent increase in new donors in 2011 [if people are so ideological and driven they will pay up for someone else's birth control, etc, why should taxpayers?].

Most of these donations are from working families in amounts between $25 and $50, said Amanda Harrington, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

Winnebago County currently does not provide family planning services and officials haven’t heard they will receive additional funds to begin doing so, said Public Health Officer Doug Gieryn.

“We don’t provide family planning services and we don’t test for sexually transmitted diseases,” Gieryn said. “We really rely on Planned Parenthood in this community to be the primary provider of those services.” [comforting...]

Rep. Michelle Litjens, R-Vinland, who approved [actually, she voted for the budget, which included the cuts, but 98 other legislators also voted yes/no] the cuts to Planned Parenthood, suggested it was the agency’s own fault.

She insisted the state is spending the same amount of money on women’s health as it always has. The only difference is that now the state is directing that money toward agencies that don’t provide abortions. [Which is true. This is a redirection of funds.]

List of businesses supporting Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin

  • August 22, 2011
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The upside, if you can call it that, to Planned Parenthood listing their businesses is that now we know what businesses support them.



From PPWI’s 2011 newsletter:

Planned Parenthood would like to thank the following businesses and community partners for helping us with our 75 House Parties.

8 Seasons Grille  (Madison),

Bandung Indonesian Restaurant (Madison),
Bayfield Wine & Spirits  (Bayfield) ,
BelaBela (Milwaukee),
Big Water Café  & Coffee Roaster  (Bayfield),
Janus Galleries  (Madison),
KUSH Entertainment,
Lowlands Group  (Milwaukee),
LuLu Café and Bar  (Milwaukee),
No Condom? No Way! ,
ONE Sports Lounge  (Milwaukee),
Plan B  (Madison),
Regano’s Roman Coin  (Milwaukee),
Roxbury Tavern  (Roxbury),
Still Waters Collective,
TRUE Skool (Milwaukee),
Umbrella Music Group,
Unitarian Universalist Congregation  (Eau Claire),
Urban Underground  (Milwaukee).

And there you have it folks. Some of these are not a surprise [eg No Condom, No Way] but others may be [eg certain restaurants.]

Former Planned Parenthood official to lead attempt to reduce black infant mortality

  • August 19, 2011
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August 16, via DiverseEducation.com:

With the mortality rate for black Wisconsin infants among the highest and most unrelenting in the nation, that state’s largest public university has become co-manager of a $10 million grant to help prevent baby deaths.

Like the Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership, the Wisconsin effort is “based on the assumption that the problem of African-American infant mortality extends back through the entire life course of African-American females,” said Dr. Philip Farrell, a semi-retired neonatologist, former University of Wisconsin medical school dean and co-chairman of the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families steering committee.

“We’re hoping this investment will allow us to attract and leverage more dollars so that we can support even more interventions,” said Lorraine Lathen, a global health consultant, program leader of the Lifecourse Initiative and the university’s chief partner in the project. “We’re looking at the non-health-related situations that can lead to poor birth outcomes. Our project is really focused on systems change, looking at increasing access to health care for women throughout their life span, not just waiting until they become pregnant.”

“There are multiple causes for the disparity, perhaps a dozen factors that we believe strongly influence pregnancy outcomes,” [Farrell] said, adding that he is encouraged by the present momentum in Wisconsin’s assault against infant deaths.

Missing from that article? Lathen formerly worked as the “vice president of education” at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

This effort to reduce infant deaths is led by a woman who engaged in infant deaths at Planned Parenthood.

And a Wisconsin State Journal article with Farrell lauding a grant to get PPWI into the homes of Hispanic women:

Among the newly funded projects is an effort by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to improve breast and cervical cancer screening among Hispanic women in Dane County.

The project, which received $450,000, will feature workshops in homes, churches and other settings focusing on social barriers to cancer screening.

“This was one of the best proposals I’ve read in our history,” said Dr. Philip Farrell, chairman of the nine-member committee and former dean of medical school.

What black women WON’T hear about:
 – Planned Parenthood’s role in aborting black babies, who are aborted at four times the rate of their numbers in the Wisconsin population;
- How Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, felt about the black people: “Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated;”
- How abortions increase the risk of low birth weight in future pregnancies by a factor of three, and of premature birth by a factor of two [both factors in infant deaths.]

UW-Madison is also engaged in training medical school residents how to perform abortions, resulting in the deaths of more black infants.

Russ Feingold: Teaching at Catholic Marquette University a “joy”

  • August 19, 2011
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From Catholic Vote:

They must think we Catholics are suckers.

When Russ Feingold represented Wisconsin in the Senate, he voted for taxpayer funding of abortion and opposed any ban on gruesome practice of partial-birth abortion.

Thankfully, last November, the voters in Wisconsin said they didn’t want him anymore.

Ah, but have no fear! Marquette Law gave Russ a call. As I mentioned earlier this year: Marquette Law hired a man as a teacher who voted to warp our laws against defending little children in the womb.

To the disappointment of liberal Democrats, Russ Feingold announced this morning that he won’t be challenging Scott Walker in a race for governor nor will he run for the Senate seat vacated by retiring Democrat Herb Kohl.

Well, good.

But guess what he cited as a reason not to run?

Teaching law during the spring semester at Marquette University Law School was a joy. The Marquette Law School is a thriving academic institution situated in a beautiful new building, Eckstein Hall. I found my time with the dean, staff, faculty, and especially the students at Marquette to be a terrific first experience in teaching law. I am pleased that I have been asked to return to teach full-time this fall and look forward to doing so.

I didn’t realize it was the responsibility of Catholic universities to be Full Employment Program for ousted pro-abortion Senators.

Is it better that he is hired by a law school in Milwaukee rather than voting in Washington in a way that harms us all? Perhaps. But this isn’t the solution either.

If Catholics are to evangelize to the world, we have to clean up our own house. We have to be true to the Gospel of Life. And to hire an abortion supporter completely undermines that. I mean, that’s so obvious.

Could we imagine Marquette hiring a racist? What if Marquette hired a man who believed that women shouldn’t be able to purchase property? Imagine the outcry.

So why is it okay for a Catholic university to hire someone who fought against any attempt to protect our youngest brothers and sisters from death by the hands of an abortionist?

It’s stunning that the same university that started Project Rachel is now hiring abortion supporters. Unreal.

Hey alumni, don’t send Marquette another dime.

After busy summer, PLW affiliates to gear up for fall 40 Days for Life

  • August 17, 2011
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Photo above: A snapshot of the PLW Ozaukee County contingent in the Cedarburg Fourth of July parade.

While school was out this summer, PLW affiliates were hard at work, spreading the pro-life message across the state.

Close to a dozen prayer vigils were held in June to commemorate Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court decision which decriminalized birth control and paved the way for Roe v. Wade.

Affiliates manned fair booths at Lifest in Oshkosh, the Waukesha County Fair, the Ozaukee County Fair, the Wisconsin Valley Fair in Wausau, the Fond du Lac County Fair (also known as the Fondy Fair), the Juneau County Fair and the St. Croix County Fair.

In addition, the pro-life message was taken to the streets with PLW contingents in the Ashland 4th of July parade,  the Cedarburg 4th of July parade, the Sheboygan Brat Days parade and the Eastman (Crawford County) 4th of July Parade.

All of this activity is in addition to our regular prayer vigils outside Wisconsin’s chemical and surgical abortion facilities! Thank you to everyone who volunteered this summer in pro-life activities!

PLW and our affiliates will once again be organizing and participating in 40 Days for Life. 40 Days will be observed this fall in Appleton, Green Bay, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Wausau and just across the border in Rockford, Ill. Not all locations are finalized yet, so stay tuned for more.

This fall’s 40 Days for Life runs September 28 through November 6. It is the largest campaign yet, with close to 300 cities participating across the globe, all praying for an end to abortion. To get involved, call PLW toll-free (877) 463-7945 or email info@prolifewisconsin.org.

FDA’s take on contraception: We’re from the government and we’re here to help

  • August 15, 2011
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The Food and Drug Administration [FDA] has a chart on their website summarizing the available methods of contraception. The chart, below, reminds me of the Ronald Reagan quip, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

The chart has a rather cheery way of summarizing the risks (heart attack, toxic shock, tear in the uterus, etc) along with the expected failure rates (1 out of every 100 women will get pregnant after a failed sterilization vs. up to 32 out of 100 women will get pregnant after a condom fails). Why would any woman be sold on the idea of having menopausal symptoms for 20 years (or more, if you go on the pill at 15 as many girls do)? Read more about contraception’s risks, the abortion-contraception connection and more on our website here.

Who thought up the “Nothing to remember” line? Like, “Ain’t no big thing, snip snip, off you go!”

Access the FDA’s chart on its website here [PDF].

Madison marathon to subsidize abortionist’s slush fund

  • August 15, 2011
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The 3rd Running of the Madison Mini-Marathon & 5K takes place this Saturday, August 20.

From the Madison Marathon website:

The funds raised through this event will be deposited into a fund called “Healthy Women, Healthy Babies.”  This fund was created to promote awareness about healthy lifestyles of women of all ages and how their decisions to make healthy choices impact not only their own lives, but the lives of their current and future family members.  The purpose of the fund is to provide discretionary support to the Chair and aid the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in its clinical, academic and public service roles with support from grateful patients, alumni, friends and the community.

For starters, Laurel Rice, chair of the UWHC Authority’s ob/gyn department, performs abortions at Planned Parenthood in Madison.

For several years, medical residents in the UW School of Medicine Ob/Gyn Department have had two four-week rotations at Planned Parenthood, where they view and participate in abortions. To view the rotation schedule, click here. To view the signed contract between UW and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, click here.

The recently-signed state budget specifically applies current law restrictions on abortion funding to the UWHC Authority. This means that UW should not be able to pay its medical residents for time spent performing abortions (but a resident can take it upon him/herself to learn on their own time, which would be a true measure of how much these residents really want to participate in baby killing.)

To summarize: If you want to subsidize an abortionist’s slush fund, by all means, participate in the marathon.

The marathon will also benefit organizations that are problematic for the pro-life cause, such as the March of Dimes and the South Madison Health & Family Center, where Planned Parenthood is located.

Birth control coverage requirement irks Catholic hospitals

  • August 11, 2011
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From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/Associated Press [our comments in bold]:

Washington – They defied the bishops [never a good move] to support President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul [How's that working out now?]. Now Catholic hospitals are dismayed that the law might force them to cover birth control free of charge to their employees.

A provision in the law expanded preventive health care benefits for women, and the administration said recently that must include birth control with no copays. The [pro-abortion] Catholic Health Association said a proposed conscience exemption is so narrowly written that it would apply only to houses of worship. Some other religious-based organizations agree.

“I call this the parish housekeeper exemption – that’s about all it covers,” said Sister Carol Keehan, president of the 600-member umbrella group for Catholic hospitals. “What we are trying to do is make workable the conscience protection the administration says it is willing to give.”

Most Catholic hospitals do not cover birth control for their employees, Keehan said, but in some cases, they are required to by state law. Doctors caring for patients at the hospitals are not restricted from prescribing birth control.

Milwaukee’s Columbia-St. Mary’s and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare systems don’t provide employees coverage for contraceptives, except for certain prescribed medical conditions, and they will be watching the process through the comment period.

“We share the Catholic Health Association’s concerns that the definition of religious organizations is too narrow,” said Anne Ballentine, spokeswoman for Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare.

Read the rest here.

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