Did you know that Planned Parenthood (PP) — the national organization with abortion accounting for 94% of its business — has a Clergy Advisory Board (CAB)?
PP describes the board as a “network of clergy members from a variety of denominations throughout the religious community”.
On the heels of the pro-life Center for Medical Progress’ (CMP) release of a series undercover videos showing PP officials cheerfully chatting and haggling about the harvesting and sale of aborted baby body parts, instead of taking Planned Parenthood to task, its Clergy Advisory Board released a statement yesterday condemning CMP, the maker of the videos.
Insisting that Planned Parenthood is simply “doing God’s work,” the board called the videos — not PP’s dismemberment and sale of aborted babies — “theologically and morally reprehensible.” The clergy advisors accuse CMP of conducting a “smear campaign” that employs “fraudulent and extreme tactics to spread false allegations about Planned Parenthood’s role in tissue donation.”
Here are the 14 members of PP’s Clergy Advisory Board (from Google cache): 3 Reform Jews; 3 Epicopalians; 2 United Church of Christ; 2 Baptists; 1 Unitarian; 1 Christian Church DOC (whatever that is); 1 Sufi; and 1 Muslim.
1. Chair: Rabbi Jon Adland, Canton, OH, Reform Jewish
2. Vice Chair: Rev. Susan Russell, All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, CA, Episcopal
3. Rev. David A. Ames, Providence, RI, Episcopal
4. Rev. Tom Davis, Saratoga Springs, NY, United Church of Christ
5. Rev. Dr. Gawain F. de Leeuw, White Plains, NY, Episcopal
6. Rev. Kevin Jones, Greenacres, FL, Baptist
7. Rev. Dr. Daniel Kanter, First Unitarian Church of Dallas, Dallas, TX, Unitarian.
8. Rev. Vincent Lachina, Seattle, WA, American Baptist
9. Rev. Jeremy Lopez, Salem United Church, Tonowanda, NY, United Church of Christ
10. Rev. Janet Maykus, Indianapolis, IN, Christian Church DOC
11. Rabbi Dennis Ross, Concerned Clergy for Choice, Albany, NY, Reform Jewish
12. Dr. Scott L. Sattler, former PP abortionist, Eureka, CA, Universal Sufism
13. Rabbi Peter Stein, Temple B’rith Kodesh, Rochester, NY, Reform Jewish
14. Ani Zonneveld, Muslims for Progressive Values, Los Angeles, CA, Muslim
Here is Planned Parenthood Clergy Advisory Board’s statement, with my rebuttals in green:
“As faith leaders committed to justice, honesty, and liberty, [no justice or liberty for the aborted unborn] we are troubled by the decades-long campaign of harassment against Planned Parenthood and those they serve [not the millions of innocent aborted babies]. Our faiths demand care for those marginalized by poverty and other oppressions [being killed is the greatest oppression of all]. Faith leaders have supported Planned Parenthood for nearly 100 years because of our shared goals: every person — regardless of income, race, or religion — deserves access to safe, affordable, high-quality health care [except if you happen to be in a womb, unable to speak for yourself].
Planned Parenthood provides professional [like advising a teenager to defecate and urinate on her sexual partner], non-judgmental, high-quality care to people, individuals, and families in our congregations, some of whom have few health care options [community health centers across the U.S. serve 8 times more people than Planned Parenthood: 21 million vs. 2.7 million]. Planned Parenthood does the best of what religious traditions do: care, no matter what.
Planned Parenthood offers the opportunity for women to choose to donate fetal tissue for research purposes. Research using fetal tissue saves hundreds of thousands of lives [and profit for Planned Parenthood] worldwide every year [unsubstantiated].
The fact that the attacking organizations use fraudulent and extreme tactics to spread false allegations about Planned Parenthood’s role in tissue donation is theologically and morally reprehensible [the religious clergy of this board are theologically and morally reprehensible]. The scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam strongly and repeatedly condemn dishonesty and hate [nothing even remotely close to the 6th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill]. Planned Parenthood facilitates tissue donation for those who choose it, knowing that it fulfills the donor’s wish and contributes to the advancement of medical research [and Planned Parenthood’s and StemExpress’ pocketbook]. We are grateful to everyone who chooses to donate and fully respectful of all who do not.
Rather than respect religious liberty [what about the freedom of the unborn from being killed and dismembered and sold?] and individual conscience, some seek to impose their values and work obsessively to limit access to health care on individuals despite the fact that denial of health care may have a tremendous impact on their families. This agenda has included restricting access to evidence-based sex education [like sex toys, porn, defecating & urinating, and not telling your sexual partner you have AIDS] and contraceptives and imposing a view of sexuality [like sex toys, porn, defecating & urinating, and not telling your sexual partner you have AIDS?] that most Americans do not hold.
Planned Parenthood employees and volunteers, as well as those at other organizations and providers, endure harassment, fraud, and violence [such as poisoning, scraping, suctioning, beheading and dismembering the unborn] when they provide and protect access to safe health care. Our religious traditions call us to offer compassion, not judgment. People who work for Planned Parenthood give care and respect to those in need, doing God’s [Satan’s] work. For this we are grateful.”
Planned Parenthood is America’s largest abortion provider. In 2014, PP received $528.4 million in taxpayer funding, according to its 2014 annual financial report. That year, the organization performed 327,653 abortions. (CNSNews)
The Center for Medical Progress is a 501(c)3 non-profit and we rely on your generous support to continue producing and releasing video and other evidence from our nearly 3-year-long investigative journalism study on Planned Parenthood’s sale of baby parts. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount here: http://www.centerformedicalprogress.org/donate/
See also:
- Planned Parenthood sells body parts of aborted human babies
- Second Planned Parenthood sting video: use ‘less crunchy’ abortion method to get intact body parts for sale“
- 3 Republicans ensured defeat of Senate defunding of Planned Parenthood
- Planned Parenthood abortionist sings about Jesus as he kills unborn
- Planned Parenthood says God doesn’t think abortion is wrong
- Planned Parenthood accepts donations earmarked for aborting black babies
- Companies that fund Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted baby body parts
- Kansas Episcopal Church celebrates 42 years of abortion with fundraiser for Planned Parenthood
A big hat-tip to FOTM’s MomOfIV
~Éowyn
