THE STOPP REPORT

In a horrific display of bad taste, Planned Parenthood of Connecticut (PPC) outraged many members of the Connecticut legislature on March 16, 1999. On that day, PPC, at a "health fair" at the state legislative office building, distributed green condoms!

This was done, of course, the day before St. Patrick's Day.

According to a STOPP supporter in Connecticut, this offended Irish-Americans, Catholics and other pro-life groups (not to mention legislators) in a big way.

For PPC to choose this day of Catholic religious celebration to distribute devices which are condemned by the Catholic Church was seen by many as an intentional affront to the Catholic Church and to individual Catholics in Connecticut.

To make matters even worse, this is not the first time PPC has committed this affront to Irish Catholics. Our informant tells us that the senate president pro tem said he "asked ... warned ... and told" PP not to do this again (they did it last year).

But, not to be discouraged, PPC went ahead with this year's distribution. PPC's public relations director contends she knew of no such warning.

St. Patrick's Day is not the only time PP thinks it's cute to give away condoms. For years, Planned Parenthood has been distributing red condoms on St. Valentine's Day with the slogan "Love Carefully."

People are beginning to see Planned Parenthood for what it really is-an organization enmeshed in the uninhibited sex philosophy; an organization that will not promote chastity; a group that makes approximately $48 million a year from teenagers engaged in sexual activity.

It's time our elected officials recognize Planned Parenthood for what it is and stop flooding its coffers with our money!

The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is described on its web site as follows:

The NAF held a news conference on March 18, 1999, and announced that a "public service campaign," which it launched in Washington earlier in the month, is designed to "put a face on the women who have abortions, and the health care professionals who provide them with those services." These ads are currently displayed in bus shelters around the city.

The NAF plans to begin running these ads "in buses and subways in additional cities over the course of the year, beginning in Miami in May and ending in New York City in October."

STOPP supporters should plan to counter this public advertising campaign by Planned Parenthood and their friends at NAF. As soon as these ads appear, run your own advertising and hold public information sessions to tell the truth about abortion and its harmful effects on women and society.

Recently there have been stories that the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has been working with voodoo. STOPP has received several calls on this topic.

First, let us assure you that the stories are true. Planned Parenthood, through its affiliate in Haiti which is called the Association pour la Promotion de la Famille Haitienne (PROFAMIL) has indeed been working with people who practice voodoo.

Planned Parenthood reported that one of the most important groups with which PROFAMIL works, "is made up of the 'vodouisants,' the voodoo followers."

Planned Parenthood then states, "Voodoo is a legitimate grassroots religious force which plays an important part in the life of the entire country, especially in the rural areas."

Planned Parenthood goes on to paint those who practice voodoo as an oppressed minority. It states that vodouisants were "discredited and fought by the Christian oligarchy and persecuted by the political powers."

Planned Parenthood tells how PROFAMIL established itself as a trusted provider of services and information. "With the participation of 60 of the highest ranking voodoo priests of the country, PROFAMIL organized a symposium on reproductive health, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and family planning in 1990."

It states that "As a result of this symposium, the association received a written commitment of support from the vodouisants."

PP then tells how it set about to indoctrinate these people into the PP philosophy. It said, "during the two years that followed, the family planning and reproductive health information sessions took place throughout the country, reaching nearly 10,000 vodouisants. Some of the vodouisants, at their own initiative, organized weekly radio talks that were broadcast nationally based on the messages they learned in the training sessions."

"During the voodoo ceremonies, performed at the 'houmforts' [temples] short song-prayers (known as saynèts) about sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS and the advantages of double protection have been composed and sung. PROFAMIL also offers its assistance to young vodouisants for condom distribution in their hometowns."

Planned Parenthood stated "In the end, all the voodoo priests expressed their satisfaction with the program, as it was designed specifically for voodoo followers. For its part, PROFAMIL succeeded in linking its program to ally with important social and cultural connections throughout Haiti. PROFAMIL counts as members of its board a voodoo priest…"

STOPP headquarters has received word from a supporter in Tacoma, Washington, that Planned Parenthood is aggressively marketing its business to residents of that area. It has placed advertisements inside buses, on television and on radio. According to our source, Planned Parenthood is attempting to portray
itself as full service women's health centers-almost as the gynecologists every family needs.

From March 14 to March 21, 1999, Jim Sedlak did a speaking tour of Indiana and Illinois. The trip was arranged through the offices of Lake County Right to Life (P.O. Box 9103, Hammond, IN 46323). The following is Jim's account of the trip:

I arrived at the Chicago airport on March 15, 1999 and was met by Ron and Mary Jane Manfred. Ron was my host for the week and had worked to arrange a series of talks at local high schools as well as other media events.

After filing a "lost baggage" report (the airlines had managed to lose the suitcase full of literature), Ron and Mary Jane drove me to my hotel in Hammond, Indiana.

The next day began an exciting week of speaking to high schools throughout the "Illiana" region of Illinois and Indiana. Over the five days, I spoke to almost 3,400 students.

On Monday morning, Ron drove me to Andrean Catholic High School in Merrilville, Indiana. There I met with the school principal, Fr. Quanz. He explained that each year they worked with Lake County Right to Life to bring a pro-life speaker to the school. For my talk that morning, he had arranged an assembly of all juniors and seniors (about 400 students).

I was given a full class period to address the students and was able to tell them about a number of topics:

When speaking to 400 young people in an assembly, where they are expected to be quiet and listen, it is hard to judge their reactions. Some seemed to be listening intently and absorbing everything, others seemed to have other things on their mind.

For the most part, however, they were polite and attentive and even gave a more than expected round of applause
at the end of the talk. The principal thanked me for coming, said he found the talk "different and interesting," and made note of the population information.

On Tuesday, we traveled to Marquette Catholic High School in Michigan City, Indiana, a much smaller school with a total enrollment of 280 students. Instead of a presentation to a large assembly, I spoke at each class period to the students in theology classes. I made six presentations to an average of 40 students per presentation.

Due to the small class size, I was able to invite the students to ask questions and was able to explain a number of the Catholic Church's positions on birth control and abortion.

The head of Marquette's theology department, Janet Stafanek, was my host for the day and she was very supportive of the message I was giving and encouraged all the children to consider signing the Pro-Life Youth Pledge.

The presentations at Marquette covered much of the same material we spoke about at Andrean. We were able to spend a little more time emphasizing the societal impact of 26 years of legalized abortion. Those impacts include:

• An aging society.
• A threat to the solvency of Social Security and Medicare.
• Rising health care costs. (Older people get sick more frequently and take longer to recover than young people. When you have greater numbers of old people and fewer numbers of young people, costs to everyone go up.)
• Businesses that are unable to expand due to the lack of workers.

I pointed out that America is, today, facing all of these problems and one that is even more serious-a lack of recognition of the sacredness of human life.

Those who brought us legalized abortion, when faced with the growing societal problems, push their agenda, and that agenda is to kill old people.

We have moved, in this society, from an acceptance of abortion, to a legal acceptance of infanticide (i.e. so-called partial-birth abortion), to the first state legalizing physician-assisted suicide, to the point where some forms of euthanasia are considered acceptable.

The students seemed interested and asked some good questions. One student, while I was discussing chastity and the Church's stand against birth control, asked "Do you realize that just yesterday, in this same period, we received a talk on the various methods of birth control?"

I expressed my concern and told him the Church's teaching. Janet told me she was not aware of the presentation and immediately alerted the school principal to a potential problem. She assured me that they would look into what had happened and they would make sure the Church's position was being taught to the students.

It was a very successful day at Marquette.

On Wednesday, we moved across the state border and gave two presentations at Illiana Christian High School in Lansing, Illinois. The school is run by the Dutch Reformed Church and has an enrollment of 750 students.

As part of the school day, all students attend chapel. This is a half-period assembly in which the students pray and then listen to speakers or other messages of faith. My appearance at the school was arranged by Lake County Right to Life through the student members of the Chapel Committee.

I spoke to the entire student body in two twenty-four minute sessions. I could not get into all the detail of previous talks, but I did give all the major highlights and spent time on the population issues as well as Matthew, chapter 10.

Of all the presentations during the week, these were the ones in which the greatest number of students seemed really interested in the subject. After each talk, several students came up and thanked me for coming. Many took copies of the Pro-Life Youth Pledge.

A number of faculty members said they appreciated the message and the principal voiced his enthusiasm for what was said. I later learned that the school sent a donation to Lake County Right to Life to thank them for having me speak.

Thursday found us at the area's largest Catholic high school. Marian has an enrollment of 1,550 and is located in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

Our appearance at Marian was arranged through one of the teachers, Nick Rohn. Nick is on fire for life. He is one of the most energetic and well-organized pro-life teachers we have met.

Nick had arranged for me to be set up in the school's theater, and I gave a talk each of the seven periods to religion students brought to the theater by their teachers. In addition, Nick told us that several other teachers in the school offered their students extra credit if they attended the talks during their study halls.

Each period there were 40 to 70 students in attendance, including a few who were obviously not part of the class, but who had come on their own. Several students were working on a set for a play during lunch and asked if I would mind if they sat back-stage and listened to the talk during sixth period. I, of course, said there was no problem. After the talk, they made a point of letting me know they appreciated what I had to say.

The contents of the talks at Marian were much the same as the earlier ones-with emphasis on the eugenic philosophies of Planned Parenthood, the world's underpopulation problems, and Matthew, chapter 10. I talked about Catholic teaching and the need to follow God's law, not man's.

I found the students at Marian to be typical of those I had encountered all week. Many were interested, others seemed bored, but the message got out and several approached me after the talks to affirm what had been said. One student said, "It's great to hear what God teaches because we hear so much of the other side of these issues."

Friday began with a morning appearance on the Libby Collins show on WJOB radio in Hammond, Indiana. During this hour-long show, we were able to talk about Planned Parenthood and expose the effects of 26 years of legalized abortion on our country.

Libby is an energetic host and was interested in discussing many aspects of the abortion issue. She tackled many of the Planned Parenthood arguments head-on. She asked how a man could speak on this issue since we don't get pregnant. That gave me the opportunity to talk about the fact that it takes two people, a man and a woman, to be the parents of a child and how men are affected by their babies being killed, just as women are. I then related how it was Planned Parenthood that initiated court cases that prohibited the father of a child from having a say as to whether or not his child is killed by abortion.

Libby also asked about sex education and I was able to tell the listening audience that classroom sex education is wrong. Sex education must be taught by the parents, or someone the parents trust, but always in a one-on-one situation. This is because sex education must be tuned to the mental maturity of the child and that, in a classroom, there will be children of the same physical age, but different levels of mental maturity.

I was also able to explain the three phases of sexual development that includes a sexual latency period from approximately age six to puberty. It is harmful to teach children sexual information during the latency period, not only from a sexual perspective, but it could also hurt their ability to learn other subjects.

Libby then asked about teaching sex to teens. I was able to point out that boys and girls are different. Boys are interested in physical sex and girls are interested in romance. You can't teach romance in a classroom; all you can do is emphasize the physical aspects. This increases the boys' sex drive and decreases the girls' resistance.

I pointed out that all the studies of sex education programs show that they do not reduce teen sexual activity, or teen pregnancy, or sexually transmitted diseases. What they do is to get more teens to buy birth control. Sex education classes are marketing programs for Planned Parenthood's birth control products.

We got into a lengthy discussion of the profits made by Planned Parenthood and the fees it charges customers at its clinics. I was able to relate to the audience that many crisis pregnancy centers around the country tell me that they get girls referred to them by Planned Parenthood. They say the girls call PP to arrange for a pregnancy test, and PP tells them that it charges for the test but the crisis pregnancy center will do them free of charge. PP suggests they go to the CPC to get the test and, if they find out they are pregnant, come back to PP.

The discussion was very lively and the two callers agreed with me. During the show we mentioned that I was talking the next night at an area banquet and a small number of tickets were still available. Lake County Right to Life received 30 calls after the show from people wanting tickets to the banquet.

Friday afternoon, we traveled to Lutheran East High School in Lansing, Illinois. This school, with a total enrollment of 85 students, provided our most lively session of the week.

I spoke to the entire student body in an assembly. The principal advised us beforehand that many students would question our position because a number of the students were new to the school and did not share the religious conviction of the staff and other students.

During my presentation, students began asking question about the "hard cases." Not only on abortion, but on physician-assisted suicide. One student felt that since he lived in a "free" America, that abortion and even assisted suicide were okay. His position was that we are free to do whatever we want. I countered these arguments with the fact that, as Christians, we are compelled to follow God's law. God has given us the Ten Commandments and has told us how we should live our lives. We are no more free to commit abortions in this country than the German people were free to kill Jews or gypsies. God's law applies to everyone in every country in every age.

Many of the students could not understand the value of suffering. They felt it was cruel to keep people alive if they were suffering. I explained that pain can be managed to alleviate suffering and that God has a plan. He can use the suffering of one person to bring many others to His side. I explained that in caring for a dying person, many people find the love of God.

I also explained the difference between ordinary care and extraordinary care and that we are required to provide a livable environment, hydration and nutrition, but we are not required to take extraordinary means. We cannot keep a person alive past the point when God decides that person should die. And it is God's decision, not ours.

The time allowed for this talk went very fast and we covered the population issue as well as Matthew 10. It is clear that the teachers in this school have a tough job ahead of them, but several teachers thanked us after the assembly for the talk and for an honest discussion of the issues in light of God's teaching.

I left this session feeling that we had done our job by raising the issues and getting discussion going.

I ask STOPP supporters to pray for all the misguided youth of our country. Pray that they will come to know God and to love Him.

On Saturday afternoon, we recorded a one-hour TV show for Catholic Views Television, Channel 54 in Mokena, Illinois. This station runs Catholic television shows and has the slogan "Beaming the truth into Chicagoland."

John Ambuul was the host for this show and we were able to go into great detail about Planned Parenthood and its operations in the United States. John was very interested in telling the audience about Margaret Sanger and also about the influences of Planned Parenthood on the Clinton Administration.

In addition to giving out the factual information, we were able to discuss ways of fighting Planned Parenthood: having a physical presence outside its facilities, stopping the flow of government money to PP, and stopping sex education and PP's other attempts to gain access to our children.

The show went very well and John asked us to send him a copy of our nine-part video series on Planned Parenthood. He plans to air them in addition to our show.

My week in Indiana came to an end Saturday evening at the Lake County Right to Life spring banquet. This event drew over 400 people and was an inspirational evening for all involved.

At the banquet, I met Bishop Dale Melczek-a wonderful pro-life bishop who supports the pro-life efforts in his Diocese of Gary, Indiana. The diocese was one of those that refused to allow its schools to participate in any General Mills programs as long as General Mills supported Planned Parenthood.

Bishop Melczek gave a wonderful talk at the banquet on the preciousness and dignity of every human life. The pro-lifers in Indiana are certainly fortunate to have such a strong pro-life bishop.

My talk at the banquet was an hour-long exposé of Planned Parenthood. I covered most of the things I had talked about with the high school students that week. In addition, I spent some time on the Humanist Manifestos. I told the gathering the basics of the philosophy that PP leaders win awards for spreading.

The talk went very well and a number of people came to me afterwards to express their appreciation. Many people told the Lake County RTL people that they had been inspired and re-energized by the talk. They said they would support the pro-life effort with renewed vigor.

I thank God for all the grace He gave me to allow me to carry His message to the people of Indiana and Illinois. I also thank all the STOPP supporters who pray for our work. If you could have traveled with me in Indiana and Illinois, you would have seen the fruits of your prayers and of your financial support of our work.

As we go to press with this issue, STOPP has appeared at two of American Life League's Unity Conferences-King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Both of these events were very successful, with over 200 people in attendance at each.

By the time you read this, we will have had two additional conferences-St. Louis, Missouri and Warwick, Rhode Island.

If you belong to a pro-life group and want to have an ALL one-day conference in your town, please call Jim Sedlak at 540-659-4171 for details. Dates are available in the fall of 1999 and for all of 2000.

STOPP's director traveled to southeast Texas at the end of March to bring the pro-life message to area college and high school students.

Jim's first stop was at the offices of the Brazos Valley Coalition for Life in Bryan, Texas. These wonderful people, mostly students and graduates of nearby Texas A&M, have been fighting the new Planned Parenthood abortuary in town.

Jim gave a one-hour presentation on the background and philosophy of Planned Parenthood and answered a number of questions. Following the formal presentation, Jim spent two hours discussing tactics and strategy with the leaders of the Brazos Valley group.

To meet with these people, who are on fire for life, was a real boost for everyone. The Brazos Valley Coalition has already scored some major victories against Planned Parenthood (including getting PP thrown out of the local Chamber of Commerce) and is planning to continue its educational efforts and street activities until PP moves out of town.

The next day, Jim gave a talk to 135 students at O'Connell High School in Galveston, Texas. Despite the fact that Jim spoke to an assembly during the last period of the day, the students were attentive and asked good questions.

Jim told them of the devastating effects of 26 years of legalized abortion. "People will tell you that abortion is a private decision between a woman and her doctor," Jim said. "But, after the deaths of 38 million babies through surgical abortion, we know this is not true. These deaths have affected our entire society. Our Social Security system is going bankrupt, Medicare is in trouble, and health care costs are skyrocketing. All of this can be traced to the fact that we have eliminated millions of young people from our future work force. Young people who would have earned wages and paid taxes are not alive. Their deaths are not a 'personal matter,' they affect every one of our lives."

Jim then told the students the facts about the myth of overpopulation. He emphasized that, when the world reaches a population of six billion later this year, it is not cause for concern. The world can feed and house many times that number of people.

Jim's final stop in Texas was at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Here Jim addressed an enthusiastic gathering of about 25 students on the background and philosophy of Planned Parenthood.

The main offices of Planned Parenthood of Houston are just two blocks from the campus, and a number of students indicated that they would begin developing a regular physical presence outside of PP's offices.

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