THE RYAN REPORT

Ed Szymkowiak leaves STOPP International

It is with sadness that we let you know that Ed Szymkowiak, who has served as the national director of STOPP for the last four years, is leaving our organization. Ed was a full time teacher before coming to STOPP and he is returning to teaching at a Catholic school in Virginia.

Ed made tremendous contributions to STOPP over the last four years and we are sorry to see him go. His expertise on fighting Planned Parenthood and his ability to make sense of the myriad of numbers generated by Planned Parenthood’s activities will be missed.

We wish Ed much success and happiness in the coming years and pray that God will continue to look over him, his wife Linda, and their six children.

Printed below is Ed’s last article for The Ryan Report:

Bush’s 2005 budget population control requests:
Title X $278.3 million, USAID $425 million

Congress will soon be making decisions about the upcoming 2005 FY budget. On the top of its list should be the elimination of the offensive population control programs that promote intrinsically evil contraception. In addition, many of the so-called contraceptives promoted by such programs act, sometimes, as abortifacients by preventing the implantation of human embryos in their mothers' wombs, thus killing 5- to 7-day-old pre-born human beings. Unfortunately, pro-lifers who have fought these evil programs for years do not seem to be getting much help from recent occupants of the White House.

President Bush’s budget request for the domestic population control program, Title X of the Public Health Service Act, which promotes contraception, is $278,283,000 for fiscal year 2005. That amount is actually higher than the $253,932,000 the program was appropriated during Bill Clinton’s last year in office for fiscal year 2001. Planned Parenthood expended nearly $59 million from this one program alone in fiscal year 2001. See the Government Accounting Office’s 2003 report, the Office of Population Affairs listing of funding history (1971-2004), and the president’s budget in the lower left corner of page 423.

On the international scene for fiscal year 2005, Bush is requesting $425 million for the USAID population control programs and an additional $25 million set aside to presumably be available for the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) if it becomes eligible for U.S. support. During the last year Clinton was in office, USAID population control programs for fiscal year 2001 were appropriated $425 million and UNFPA was appropriated $21.5 million. Since 1965, USAID has obligated over $6.6 billion for international population planning. To the extent this money promotes contraception, this is an abuse of our tax dollars, which must stop. For greater detail, see the Congressional Research Service document, “Population Assistance and Family Planning Programs: Issues for Congress,” (4/17/03 update).

You can tell President Bush what you think of his funding requests for population control programs that promote contraception by contacting him at: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, 202-456-1111 (comment line). Remind him that he said tax dollars should not be used for killing embryonic human life for stem cell research and ask him to have the same concern for human embryos being killed by the anti-implantation effects of contraceptives he is promoting when he approves funding for domestic and foreign population control programs that promote contraceptives.

All tax-funded population control programs that promote contraception should be eliminated. This is what the Freedom of Conscience Act of 2003 (H.R. 1548) would do at the federal level. Introduced on April 2, 2003 by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), H.R. 1548 states simply, “No Federal official may expend any Federal funds for any population control or population planning program or any family planning activity (including any abortion procedure), irrespective of whether such program or activity is foreign or domestic.”

When he introduced H.R. 1548, Rep. Paul said, “It is immoral to force the American taxpayers to subsidize programs and practices they find morally abhorrent.” (Republican National Coalition for Life Fax Notes, 5/15/03).

First elected to Congress in 1976, Rep. Paul is an M.D. (obstetrician-gynecologist) and serves on three Congressional committees: the Committee on International Relations, the Committee on Financial Services, and the Joint Economic Committee. He left Congress in 1984 and returned in 1996. Unfortunately, as of August 10, 2004, H.R. 1548 has only one other sponsor, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland. Readers are urged to spread the word about H.R. 1548 and to contact their own Congressional representatives to ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 1548 today. Finally, ask president Bush to support H.R. 1548 as well.

Fighting Planned Parenthood in Indiana

Many people in Indiana are beginning active fights against Planned Parenthood. Below is a report we received from Eileen Hartman, head of the ALL associate group, the Gabriel Project of Indiana.

If you have not joined us at PP in Columbus on Rt. 31 at Sycamore Ct., across from Hollywood Video, you are missing the community support shown by those who drive by on Saturday mornings.

As we walk, pray and talk, some people wave and honk in support from their cars. Others actually lean out of the window and give us a thumbs-up as they shout in support of Life. Some park on the street or in the nearby lot and come over to see who we are and why we are gathered. Three neighbors from Sycamore Court stopped by last week, took pamphlets and car magnets, thanked us and promised to return in two weeks to walk and pray with us.

We've been asked how long we will stay and we answer that we're here for the duration -- until Planned Parenthood "gets out of our town." If people don't understand our determination, we show them samples of PP brochures and books, which steal the innocence of our children. Once they understand what PP really stands for, they promise to return and help us or to be with us in prayer.

A local pastor came by and could hardly believe what he saw and read, which was recommended by PP for children ages 10 and up. He is now considering hosting Jim Sedlak, founder and executive director of STOPP International, when he returns to our area in October.

Know that you are welcome to join us at anytime between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. If you cannot be with us, you can pray with us wherever you are. Pray for an end to abortion and Planned Parenthood. Pray that the PP employees will find better jobs.

Thank God for all the wonderful people in Bartholomew County who are seeking the truth and protecting their children from lies. Thank God for the people who join us from other counties on Saturday mornings. Thank God if you have never felt that abortion was your only choice and pray for the women and men who mourn the child(ren) they have lost through abortion. Praise God if our efforts and God's grace saves even one woman or family from the horrible pain of abortion.

Saving lives outside PP in Poughkeepsie, New York

The following report is from Helen Westover, head of the group Mid-Hudson STOPP. Helen is reporting on the activities outside the Planned Parenthood killing center. The killing center is located mid-way down Noxon Street and, in addition to people being right in front of the facility, pro-lifers have a presence at each end of the street.

Jerry and I usually position ourselves on opposite ends of the street while the sidewalk counselors deal with the people going in to have their kids murdered. We do Face the Truth, using Tiny Tim (10 week), Emily (the little girl who had her head torn off), and of course, Malachi. The idea is to "head off" the abortion-bound with pictures of the Victims, to perhaps burn the images of the dead into their minds BEFORE they turn into PP's driveway. Usually, once the driveway barrier has been crossed, the murder is inevitable; but not always. Audrey, Tom, Arnie, and Robert have the thankless task of trying to talk these women out of killing their children.

Jerry's position is on the Academy and Noxon St. intersection, where there are several homes with children. For weeks, now, the kids have talked with Jerry, and even held some of the signs. After picketing on the corner of Noxon and Market, I went to see what was going on with Jerry. He was surrounded by 12 kids; 6 boys, 6 girls. Everyone of them (middle-school age) were fascinated by the pictures. They wanted to know EVERYTHING - showing them Tiny Tim, I described to them the fact that this kid was the same age as the kids being slaughtered by PP down the street. I told them that PP would never tell them what abortion actually is, and that is why Jerry and I are there. Jerry has had many conversations with these kids, and has had the same experience. We told them that we wanted them to know, before PP ever got hold of them, and lied to them as they do.

I was wearing the Precious Feet, and only had a couple of pair to give to the kids (furious with myself for being so unprepared -- never again), and I explained that these were the same size and shape of Tiny Tim's feet, that PP would never tell them; nor that the baby was moving, and sucking his thumb. I told them that the REASON PP lies to kids and moms is to make money; that they were, at that precise moment, making blood money, over and over, and that's why the other people were in front of the place.

Towards the end, an elderly black woman came by, castigating us over showing the victims and talking to the children. She claimed to be pro-life, and may have been; but she kept claiming that the kids were being traumatized by our signs. Jerry said, "Look at them! Do they seem traumatized?" On the contrary, they were fighting over who would get to wear the Feet.

I told the children of the time I encountered a clerk, while I had the Feet, who asked for a pair for herself -- and that, 2 years later, she reintroduced herself, and showed me a picture of her son, who had been saved from death because the Feet changed her mind. I told this lady that what we were doing was trying to save these kids from making a terrible decision, based on lies. She didn't agree when we said that Blacks are disproportionately aborted, because PP targets them, a la Maggie Sanger.

Towards the end, however, she seemed to soften. Jerry reminded her, and the kids, that we truly RESPECT these young people -- we know that they want truth, and are not frightened by it. Only ADULTS claim this, have you noticed?

I told the kids, that I would be back, with enough Feet to decorate the shirts of all of them and their friends. They were delighted. They can't wait until we return.

We MUST reach these kids with the reality, before the predators do.

Fighting Planned Parenthood in Amarillo, Texas

Our final item for this month is a report from Rita Diller, coordinator of Respect Life Ministries in Amarillo, Texas. This is the group that has closed down 14 Planned Parenthood offices since 1997. Want to know how they do it? Read on …

I have to tell you about our amazing evening. On September 11, eight pro-life supporters, ranging in age from thirteen to eighty-something ventured onto Club View Drive carrying signs and praying in opposition to a Planned Parenthood fundraiser that was to be held at the home of Don and Dean Paxton in a very opulent neighborhood near Tascosa Country Club, an area inhabited for the most part by physicians.

Since there were no sidewalks, we had no choice but to stand in the street near the curb. We found a place that we thought would be ideal in front of a vacant lot, nestled among what must have been the New York City of red ant beds. We strategically placed our signs, including a very large sign comparing the Nazi Holocaust with Planned Parenthood’s Holocaust, and dutifully and earnestly began praying and stamping ants. It must have indeed looked like a very strange tribal ritual taking place, what with all the praying and stamping.

At any rate, the neighbors began to pour out of their houses to survey the unusual situation. The gentleman who lived directly across from our little gathering came out to tell us how much he supported our opposition to Planned Parenthood and to wonder aloud why we were in front of his house instead of the home where the party was taking place. I explained to him that there were safety concerns for the individuals who were standing in the street praying because of past vehicular assault threats by Planned Parenthood supporters.

We were then approached by another resident of the neighborhood who said he had been deceived about what type of function was taking place at the Paxtons, and he left us saying that he was going to “get in the faces of the Paxtons” for hosting a fundraiser for, in his words, “Planned Murderers.”

The angry neighbor had no sooner departed than three police squad cars rounded the corner in great haste stopping, of course, right in front of our little tribal prayer-dance. They said someone had reported “protestors all over the street” and they came prepared for a mob, I suppose, only to find eight Catholics praying the rosary and stamping ants, in between visiting with the neighbors. They decided that we were fine and went down the street to talk to the Paxtons.

A few minutes later our friendly patrolmen were back, saying that we had supporters in the neighborhood and that the gentleman two houses down from the Paxtons had invited us to stand in his yard. However, he said the gentleman was standing in his yard greeting those who were attending the function with the news that “Planned Parenthood is a bunch of murderers.” I told the officer we would just stay put.

Yet another neighbor stopped to tell us he is Catholic and opposes Planned Parenthood and thanked us for being there.

Then Planned Parenthood supporters began employing their usual tactic of attempting to park their cars where we were standing to block the view of our signs. The gentleman across the street from the ant bed told us we could stand in his driveway. Ah, at last, the ant dance could stop, but not before I had a swollen toe to show for my lack of dexterity.

He became our host for the evening, along with the neighbors to the north. The red carpet was rolled out for us, and as sometimes happens when we go into a neighborhood to pray because of a Planned Parenthood fundraiser, we made some very dear new friends. The residents of the neighborhood brought us soft drinks and Gatorade – enough for twelve times as many as were there. Others kept stopping by to tell us how much they supported us and were going up and down the block telling other neighbors why we were there.

The neighbors to the north stood outside with us since they were very opposed to Planned Parenthood and were very interested in seeing who was supporting them. They brought us insect repellent. We had escaped the ants only to find the mosquitoes were starting to bite. They were vicious little creatures, too. At any rate, about an hour into the evening, the son of the neighbor to the north showed up with a date and they were headed for … Planned Parenthood’s party. They parked in Mom’s driveway, who let them know in no uncertain terms that Planned Parenthood’s party was not the place to go, but the date was a cousin of one of the hosts so off they went. After all, they thought it was just a party.

Mom had Younger Brother move Older Brother’s car out of the driveway and into the street all the way to the far end of the block. Younger Brother made a sign and placed it on the back window of Older Brother’s car. It said “Abortion is Bad.” Sister was very distraught and came over to tell us that Older Brother had gone to the Planned Parenthood function.

Then Older Brother came home. He told Mom that he felt nasty and slimey for having been there; that they were trying to get him to join Friends of Planned Parenthood and he finally just walked away. Soon his date called and asked him to come back and get her. She did not want to be there, either. The two younger brothers decided they wanted to hold signs opposing Planned Parenthood and that is exactly what they did for at least an hour, standing on the street until after dark in opposition to the debacle that Planned Parenthood was conducting in their neighborhood. By the way, the signs showed up very nicely in the headlights of the party-goers as they were leaving.

We prayed umpteen decades of the rosary, also the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and just had the most blessed three and a half hours you could ever imagine among our new found friends. There is always so much trepidation involved in going into an unknown neighborhood to proclaim the Gospel of Life, but God blesses these efforts beyond belief, and I know that what we saw and heard and experienced out on Club View Drive in Amarillo, Texas on September 11 was only a tiny bit of the impact that prayer vigil will have on the neighborhood and on our city. Thanks be to God for giving us the opportunity and courage to be there and for the wonderful people of the neighborhood who made us feel like royalty.

Can you imagine what a tremendous impact the response of this neighborhood must have had on Planned Parenthood’s annual membership gala? Only in God’s great design could something like this have happened.

You, too, can have fun fighting Planned Parenthood

Don’t let Eileen, Helen and Rita have all the fun. You can stand up for God and join the joyful fight against Planned Parenthood today. Join your local effort against PP or start one of your own.

For further information, or to schedule a talk in your community by STOPP's executive director, Jim Sedlak, call 540-659-4171 or fax 540-659-2586 or e-mail us at stopp@all.org.

Next month we will tell you about David and the 40 Days For Life. If you have a story about your fight with PP, send it to stopp@all.org and watch for it in an upcoming Ryan Report.

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