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Activism Update

Activism Update

200 Protest Planned Parenthood Express

On Saturday, March 4, the Pro-Life Action League joined the Illinois Right to Life Committee for the first of its monthly protests at the Planned Parenthood Express location in Orland Park, IL. Over 200 pro-lifers participated in the event organized by IRLC Executive Director Bill Beckman, who resides nearby.

Orland Protest

Planned Parenthood Express protest, Mar 4 [Photo by EJS]

Beckman’s goal is to oust the Planned Parenthood Express facility, located less than two miles from Carl Sandburg High School. The Express locations—essentially outposts of Planned Parenthood’s full-service clinics—dispense contraceptives and offer abortion referrals, with special discounts for clients seventeen and under.

Beckman notes that abortion profits are now Planned Parenthood’s primary source of income, with the Express locations intended to increase their bottom line—at the expense of vulnerable teens. It was particularly fitting, therefore, that many of the pro-life protesters were teens themselves (see story).

Wichita Clinic: CLOSED

After twenty years of performing abortions, Central Women’s Services in Wichita, KS, is closed. CWS was open for abortions only about two days a month. It had been experiencing financial troubles recently, and was behind on its rent.

Operation Rescue staffer Cheryl Sullenger attended the clinic’s yard sale of business supplies, office equipment, and furniture on May 26. “There really wasn’t much there,” said Sullenger. “It was very dingy and crowded inside, and not particularly clean. Most of the items for sale had seen better days, for sure. It must have been a very depressing experience to have had an abortion at such a dumpy office. As I toured the building, I felt a real sense of loss for the babies that died there.”

OR President Troy Newman added: “We pray that Wichita’s better known abortuary, George Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services, will be the next to close.”

Two Irish Activists Arrested

Two pro-life activists were arrested in Tullamore, County Offaly, while protesting the role of Ireland’s Health Service Executive in the abortion of a 23-week baby in 2003. The case involved a 14-year old mother who was taken to England to have her unborn child killed. The girl’s own mother, who was entitled to attend the hearing that would determine her grandchild’s fate, was unable to attend the hearing due to the failure of the HSE’s local chapter to provide transportation.

The activists, Donal O’Driscoll and Colm Callanan, were approached by an Irish national police officer who requested that they remove their picture of an aborted baby on the grounds that it was “offensive.” Upon refusal, the two were arrested and detained in a cell for half an hour. The two will face a hearing in their case in July.

Alabama Authorities Close Abortion Clinic

The State of Alabama recently closed the Summit Medical Center in Birmingham and suspended abortionist Deborah Levich’s license after an investigation into a botched abortion by clinic staff involving the delivery of a 6 pound, 4 ounce baby. A woman went to Summit on February 20, and was told after an ultrasound that she was six weeks pregnant when in fact she was 8 months along. In violation of state law, non-physicians then administered the abortion pill, RU-486, a drug approved by the FDA for use only in the first eight weeks of pregnancy.

Six days later, the woman delivered a six pound, four ounce dead baby at a hospital emergency room. An investigation into the facility showed that patient records were falsified to indicate that a doctor had administered RU-486, even though no doctor was present at Summit that day.

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