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Wednesday STOPP Report: December 31, 2008
by Jim Sedlak
Released December 31, 2008
In this issue:
PP begins abortions at new Sarasota center
Despite the efforts of dedicated pro-lifers in Sarasota, Florida, Planned Parenthood has opened its new abortion facility and did abortions for the first time last Friday – December 26.
PP was met by a group of pro-lifers who are dedicated to being present whenever babies are scheduled to die. Here are excerpts from a report we received on the activities at the PP killing center:
At least 11 people participated Friday between 9am and noon in the weekly abortion-day Prayer Vigil at Sarasota Planned Parenthood at the new location, 736 Central Avenue, between 7th and 8th streets. A new participant was a fellow in a motorized wheelchair who heard about us that morning at St. Martha. He said his dad had been quite an active pro-lifer.
It was the first abortion day in the new location.The abortionist arrived earlier than usual, around the 9am opening time. Abortions still were done, but likely they were fewer than average. PP client traffic was lower than usual.
Although abortions still were done, the first abortion day at the new facility otherwise went very well from our perspective. The former location was on a little-used side street. Here, more pedestrians and more vehicles come by, thus noticing our pro-life signs. Our presence now is more visible. Most passersby and passing vehicles were supportive. Only a few passing pedestrians made "pro-choice" comments. Our method is to try to be non-confrontational.
The pray-ers generally gathered on the main walk in front of the building. The PP parking lot drive is on a side street, some distance from the main walk. So the pray-ers and signs are not crowded around sidewalk counselors at the incoming drive, as they were at the former location. At least theoretically, an entering client more likely will stop for a single counselor than near a crowd of pray-ers. The entrance and exit drives are the same, so we don't need 2 counselors to cover 2 drives.
PP's regional CEO was watching the operation at her new location closely. For at least 3 hours, she spent most of her time standing around the entrance or sitting on the entry steps. She didn't interact with the pray-ers, but did nod when greeted. She did talk with a few inside staff or volunteers, and with the few clients who walked in the front entrance. She varied her time: standing watching us, sitting on the steps while working on a pile of papers in her lap, talking on her cell phone. At one point, she got a spray bottle and a roll of paper towels to clean the windows on the entrance door. Later, she did the same at the back entrance door. Not enough help on the holidays, or "pride of ownership"? Is this what the organization pays her more than $100,000 a year for?
At the entrance of this 3-story modern-style green monster (2nd largest PP in the nation) was an easel with a large hand-drawn sign on a paper pad, "Parking in Rear." It wasn't too visible to passing traffic. Considering that millions of dollars went into this structure, a crude sign seemed quite incongruous. Some PP clients parked across the street in a furniture store parking lot. Eventually, a patrolman notified the PP CEO that the store owner doesn't want anyone parking there except his customers.
PP apparently had called police, as if there might be problems. PP's policy appears to be to use police as a means of trying to intimidate pro-lifers. Our people generally didn't act as if they were intimidated. At 2 different times, officers talked with us after speaking with the PP CEO. They told us they found no reason for concern with our group.
Any of our readers who are located near Sarasota are encouraged to contact Jim Styer, jimstyer@comcast.net. Help is needed to bring the message of life to all who pass near the PP killing center.
Training and Activism Week and Personhood Conference
As part of our ongoing fight against Planned Parenthood and the culture of death, American Life League’s Rock For Life project holds a Training and Activism Week every January in Washington, DC. This year the event will begin on Wednesday, January 21 and continue through a conference on personhood that will be held on Friday, January 23.
Full details on all the activities are outlined below. More information can be found on the Rock For Life web site.
What is Training and Activism Week?
- Marching with hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers at the 36th annual March for Life
- Meeting and networking with young pro-lifers from all over the U.S., Canada, and beyond!
- Attendance at our Personhood Conference on Friday
- Training given by experienced, successful veteran pro-lifers including Lila Rose, Jill Stanek, Kristi Burton, Judie Brown, Alan Keyes, and David Bereit
- Pro-life outreach on the streets of our nation's capital
- Pro-life visibility at Planned Parenthood
- Concert with My Brother's Pony, Andy Zipf, Alakrity, and others
All events take place in or near:
The Liaison Capitol Hill
415 New Jersey Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
Most events are free and open to the public. Donations will be taken at the door to cover costs for the pizza party and concert.
Need a place to stay in Washington, D.C.? We have reserved rooms just for you! BUT HURRY! Rooms are filling up fast.
The cost to stay with us at the Liaison Hotel is only $50 per night per person (two- or three-night stay). Too good to be true? Not really! We assign four persons to a room to keep the costs down.
For more information and to register online, click here.
Nobody is going to Yuma Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood of Arizona runs 20 clinics throughout the state. Eleven of those clinics perform medical or surgical abortions, while the remaining nine sell products that cause chemical abortions and refer customers for the medical or surgical abortions.
One of the facilities that sells abortifacient products is located in Yuma, Arizona. That facility was the subject of a short report on KSWT (channel 13) in Yuma.
According to the report, the Yuma PP office is having trouble convincing local residents to use its services. Specifically, "The clinic has had a tough time meeting patient goals..."
According to the report, PP "sees about 2,000 patients every year, but that's only half of their patient goal. If they manage to make more money, workers will finally buy a sign for their building..."
WHAT!! Planned Parenthood made over $100 million in profit nationally last year and the Arizona affiliate has a budget of around $15 million, but it cannot afford a sign for its Yuma office? Well, you see, PP is a business. Every clinic MUST cover its own costs. If Yuma can’t make enough money to buy a sign, then Yuma doesn’t get a sign. The statewide income and the national profits are for the executives to use. Why would they buy a sign with it?
To try to drum up new business, Planned Parenthood is passing out free condoms. Remember that the PP condoms were rated dead last in a Consumer’s Report study of condoms in the United States. PP spokesperson Heather George told the station, "We're going to try to go to local establishments that are aware and support Planned Parenthood and hopefully their customers will talk to other people."
Planned Parenthood blames local pro-life efforts, and specifically a demonstration outside its facilities last September, for its woes. This is more testimony to the effectiveness of pro-life educational efforts in letting people know the truth about Planned Parenthood.
This is, of course, the last Wednesday STOPP Report of 2008. We are just completing our Annual Survey of Planned Parenthood locations and will publish the results in January, 2009. Our preliminary data indicate that PP closed down over 20 locations in 2008 and, although they did open some new ones, the total number of PP locations has, once again, declined. We wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope that your resolutions include ever increasing efforts against your local Planned Parenthood facilities. May God bless you and your families.
The preceding email is a product of American Life League's STOPP project. If you would like to know more, please visit http://www.all.org. If you wish to unsubscribe to this weekly information, Click Here. ©2008 American Life League. Copies may be made if attribution is given. Mention of a person or group or a person’s or group’s publication does not constitute an endorsement of all the work, publications and/or information of such person or group. The Wednesday STOPP Report is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. Please consider supporting American Life League with a tax-deductible gift. To contribute securely online using your credit card, please visit http://www.stopp.org/support.htm. Of course, you can always mail a contribution to: American Life League, P.O. Box 1350 Stafford, VA 22555. Thank you.
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