In her April 29 offering, national advice columnist Ann Landers counsels a "Grieving Mother-to-Be in Virginia" who is seeking advice because the father of the child she is carrying has died. Landers advises her to contact Planned Parenthood because it provides "excellent counseling for expectant mothers."
"Nothing could be further from the truth," said Ed Szymkowiak, national director of STOPP International (an American Life League division). "This young woman will never get objective advice from Planned Parenthood. This organization's focus is not motherhood, but death," he said. "Ann Landers' advice to this grieving mother will quite likely lead her to an organization that will kill her baby."
Planned Parenthood Federation of America reported it had performed 197,070 abortion procedures in 2000. PPFA has performed more than 3 million post-implantation abortion procedures since 1977. Countless more children have died via the pre-implantation abortifacient effects that sometimes occur from the use of certain drugs and devices that Planned Parenthood sells as contraceptives.
Szymkowiak said for the fourth straight year, Planned Parenthood's adoption referrals to other agencies (Planned Parenthood is not an adoption agency) declined. In 2000, such referrals were down to only 2,486. "That's a whopping 73.5 percent decrease from what they were in 1997," he said. "Yet, during the same time period, Planned Parenthood's abortion procedures increased 19.3 percent." In 2000, Planned Parenthood aborted about 79 babies for every adoption referral it made to an outside agency (divide 197,070 by 2,486).
Release issued: 29 Apr 02
