LIFE DIGEST: Planned Parenthood drops suit
- Dec 1, 2009 -
Planned Parenthood has dropped a lawsuit against a former clinic director who quit her job after viewing an abortion by means of an ultrasound machine.
Abby Johnson, 29, turned in her resignation Oct. 6 after working for eight years at the Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Tex. She began participating in pro-life prayer vigils with the Coalition for Life after her departure from the clinic.
Also in this edition: Warren rejects abortion as ‘rare’ mantra and Mexican state proposes federal abortion ban.
Planned Parenthood said in its lawsuit Johnson broke a confidentiality agreement and an employment contract, according to Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which gave her legal assistance.
“Like so many Planned Parenthood lawsuits, this lawsuit was baseless, so we are pleased that it has been withdrawn,” said Steven Aden, senior legal counsel for ADF.
Johnson told Fox News she had a “change of heart” after watching on a sonogram an unborn child “crumple” as he was vacuumed from the mother’s womb.
“I just thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought, ‘That’s it,’” Johnson told KBTX-TV, the CBS affiliate in Bryan. She told Fox, “I would say there was a definite conversion in my heart . . . a spiritual conversion.”
Johnson already had become disillusioned with her job, saying her regional supervisor had urged her in recent months to find ways to increase profits by producing more abortions, she told Fox.
“Every meeting that we had was, ‘We don’t have enough money, we don’t have enough money – we’ve got to keep these abortions coming,’” Johnson said, according to Fox.
Planned Parenthood is the country’s leading abortion provider. Its affiliates performed more than 305,000 abortions in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available.
Warren rejects abortion as ‘rare’ mantra
Mega-church pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren rejected the mantra of “safe, legal and rare” regarding abortion on the Nov. 29 edition of “Meet the Press.”
When asked on the Sunday morning NBC television program what President Obama should do additionally to limit abortions, the pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., said, “I think we’ve had 46 million Americans who aren’t here, those who could be here since Roe v. Wade who are not voting. I think that in a sense is a Holocaust, I really do. . . .
““Now I don’t understand the idea of: ‘It should be rare . . . ,” Warren said. “Well, either you believe it’s life or you don’t. Why would you believe it should be rare? Because if a baby, a fetus is not a life, then why restrict it?”
President Clinton and many Democrats used the phrase “safe, legal and rare” commonly to describe their approach to the abortion issue. The Democrats dropped the term from their party platform in 2008.
The Obama White House’s approach has been to talk about reducing the need for abortion. The president’s decisions to revoke some limits on federal funding of abortion are expected to increase the number of the procedures, however.
Warren and Saddleback Church hosted Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain in a forum during the 2008 campaign. At the event, Warren asked the candidates, “At what point does a baby get human rights?”
In what became an oft-quoted response, Obama said the specific answer to the question “is above my pay-grade.”
During his “Meet the Press” appearance, Warren said, “The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence. So absolutely, one of the stewardships of leadership is to speak up for those who have no voice. Now I personally believe that includes the unborn, because they have no voice.”
Mexican state proposes federal abortion ban
Veracruz has become the 17th Mexican state to outlaw most abortions and has initiated a process that may result in a federal constitutional amendment to ban the procedure.
Legislators in Veracruz voted 39-6 for a bill that defines life as beginning at conception and permits exceptions for abortions in the cases of a threat to the mother’s life, pregnancy by rape or a deformity in the unborn child, according to the Associated Press.
The Nov. 17 action means more than half of Mexico’s 32 states have adopted pro-life laws since Mexico City’s legislature approved an abortion rights law in April 2007. That law permits abortions in Mexico City during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The Veracruz lawmakers also approved a measure requiring Mexico’s Congress to take up an amendment to the constitution that would ban abortion. Observers said the proposal has a likelihood of being adopted, AP reported.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. Our free, downloadable Impact resource is also available online. If your church is interested in purchasing materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Life, Abortion, Citizenship