Opinion

A Poignant Letter by a Former State Representative

By August 4, 2015August 25th, 2016One Comment

Over ten years ago, when I sat on the House Judiciary Committee as a Representative from Dover, I would cringe when the Director of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England stated, with a straight face, that money they received from the state went to the women’s health side of Planned Parenthood but not to providing abortion services.  I believed I asked at the time if the money was somehow marked, some to healthcare and some other money to abortion?  Of course the notion is absurd; all money is fungible, easily interchangeable and able to be used for other purposes.

Money given by the state and federal governments is used for providing a facility that is used for both.  The money spent to pay rent, heat, electricity, staff and all related operating costs maintains and supports an organization that provides not just “health care” but also abortions.  To ask us to believe otherwise is insulting and absurdly ludicrous.

Those who believe we need Planned Parenthood to provide health care services for women may not realize that these same services are available at multiple facilities throughout the state such as community health clinics, hospitals, urgent care centers and more.  They can also be provided at reduced cost or free depending on ability to pay.

Besides knowing that Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortions in the country, running a multi-billion dollar business, we are now learning that they have another way to profit from this gruesome industry.  Fifteen years ago anyone who would even “suggest” that aborted babies were being used for body parts or for other experimental purposes was labeled either a religious fanatic or an outrageous conspiracy theorist.  Today we have seen and heard the evidence of what has been going on at Planned Parenthood for years.  Trafficking of fetal tissue for profit is an ongoing activity for which taxpayers are forced to pay and now the truth of that has been brought to light and can no longer be denied, or tolerated.

In light of the recent videos exposing the disgusting practices of Planned Parenthood, one is left to wonder why the Supreme Court, who found a so-called right to “privacy” to protect a woman’s right to kill her unborn child, didn’t also find a right to dignity and respect for human life that would have protected pre-born babies from being butchered for profit.

The Republican National Committee is considering a resolution calling for terminating taxpayer funding for abortions on the federal level.  It re-affirms a plank in the RNC 2012 platform that declares, “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.”  We need to defund Planned Parenthood on the State level as well and this week, a hundred and fifty people held a rally at the State House in Concord asking our lawmakers to do just that.

In this growing culture of death we do not need a president like Hillary Clinton who proudly accepted the Margaret Sanger Award.  Sanger is the eugenicist and racist who founded Planned Parenthood who advocated for requiring government licenses to have children and promoted zero population growth. Clinton said she admired Sanger “enormously.”  Sanger said the kindest thing a large family could do to a newborn was to kill it!

We need a courageous leader who recognizes the harm that Planned Parenthood does and that women deserve better than abortion.  Gov. Scott Walker defunded Planned Parenthood in his home state of Wisconsin even before the atrocious videos of them negotiating the sale of body parts of aborted babies was made public.  We desperately need a President who affirms the dignity of all human life and unapologetically affirms that ALL lives matter.

It’s difficult to understand why anyone would say that this is a “fringe issue” which has no place in the political forum where presidential candidates should focus on other, more important, issues.  This goes to the heart and soul of who we are as a people.  Planned Parenthood, who receives more than $500 million in taxpayer money every year, may rationalize and defend their actions as their “right” and a “woman’s right to choose” but they no longer need to do it on my dime.

Phyllis Woods

Former Republican National Committeewoman

Former Dover State Representative

Dover, NH

603-749-2177

Join the discussion One Comment

  • Kurt Wuelper says:

    Couldn’t be more right. If any candidate/office holder can’t understand the right to life is paramount among rights, foundational to all others, we have no reason to expect that person to make good judgements on any other issue? The primary need for our political process to return to one that works for ALL the people is for more prolife people to be more involved: more prolife voters, candidates, office holders. As citizens, we have a responsibility to choose leaders who will strengthen our foundation, not undermine it.

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