I'm hoping to generate some support for Planned Parenthood in light of new attacks from anti-choice activists.
The most recent involves sting operations in which a young woman (Lila Rose) poses as a minor who's been impregnated by an adult and then videotapes Planned Parenthood employees agreeing not to report child abuse to the authorities.
As a result of the attention these stings are bringing, several municipalities have withdrawn or are considering withdrawing their funding of Planned Parenthood programs. So far, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Bloomington, Tucson, Phoenix, and Memphis have been hit.
Here's a bit from the story from the LA Times:
Rose's goal is to undermine legal abortion by showing that Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in the country, abets sexual exploitation by counseling pregnant minors to lie about the ages of their adult boyfriends.
Planned Parenthood officials strenuously deny the charge. Protecting minors is a crucial part of their mission, they say, but with 30,000 employees and volunteers and 850 clinics, they say, mistakes are inevitable.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, many folks made donations to Planned Parenthood in honor of Sarah Palin, and had the organization forward her an acknowledgment card. According to the Daily News, that action raised over $760K for Planned Parenthood.
I thought that was a brilliant strategy, so I just did the same thing, only this time I made my donation in the name of Lila Rose, whose non-profit organization is Live Action (unfortunately, not a porn site).
Here's the donation page for Planned Parenthood.
The address the acknowledgment card should go to is:
c/o Live Action, 117 Bernal Road #70-153, San Jose, CA 95119.
Planned Parenthood takes donations as low as $5.
Just imagine what kind of impact this could have if you let 10 supportive folks know about this.
Please help out!
Update - See Bonnie Erbe's recent US News column.