Catholic Bishops Call on Senate to De-Fund Planned Parenthood After It Sells Aborted Babies

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 3, 2015   |   11:52AM   |   Washington, DC

The Senate will vote tonight on a new bill has been introduced that will totally de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The legislation follows four shocking videos that have caught Planned Parenthood doctors discussing and arranging the sale of body parts of aborted babies.

When the Senate votes, the nation’s Catholic bishops are calling on senators to vote to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, archbishop of Boston and the chair of the  the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a letter this morning asking the Senate to reallocate taxpayer dollars so women can obtain their health care from providers that do not promote abortion. The nations Catholic bishops urged support for S. 1881, which would withhold federal funds from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates.

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must De-Fund Planned Parenthood Immediately

The letter reads as follows:

Dear Senator:

I am writing to ask your support for S. 1881, to withhold federal funds from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates.

It has long been troubling to many Americans that the nation’s largest abortion network, performing over a third of all abortions, receives over half a billion taxpayer dollars a year. This concern has rightly grown in recent years.

The most recent revelations about Planned Parenthood’s willingness to traffic in fetal tissue from abortions, and to alter abortion methods not for any reason related to women’s health but to obtain more “intact” organs, is the latest demonstration of a callousness toward women and their unborn children that is shocking to many Americans.

The Catholic Church comes to this issue from a perspective rooted in experience. Catholic charitable agencies and pregnancy help centers have helped countless pregnant women find life-affirming alternatives to abortion. Our hospitals and other health facilities are second to none in providing quality health care for women.

We support the legislative proposal to reallocate federal funding, so that women can obtain their health care from providers that do not promote abortion. It is my sincere hope that you will be able to help advance this goal by supporting S. 1881.

Democrats are expected to filibuster the bill – forcing Senate Republicans to come up with 60 votes to invoke cloture and end debate on the pro-life measure. Because two Republicans have said they support Planned Parenthood funding and Democrats like Senator Bob Casey, who claims to be pro-life, are not willing to support the bill to de-fund Planned Parenthood, Democrats are expected to sustain their filibuster and prevent passage of the de-funding measure.

But pro-life groups hold out hope that a last-minute deluge of calls and emails to a handful of senators could make the difference.

While most members of the Senate are strongly pro-life and support yanking taxpayer funding from the nation’s largest abortion business, there are seven members of the Senate — three Republicans and four Democrats — who are considered the most likely to support de-funding Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, some of them have already announced publicly they intend to back funding for Planned Parenthood despite the fact the abortion company sells the body parts of aborted babies.

Here are the seven senators who need to hear from you in the next 24 hours. If you live in their states, it’s time to pick up the phone and call now to ure them to vote to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

Republicans:

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, (R-AK) 202-224-6665
Sen. Mark Kirk, (R-IL) 202-224-2854
Sen. Susan Collins, (R-ME) 202-224-2523

Democrats:

Sen. Joe Donnelly, (D-IN) 202-224-4814
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, (D-ND) 202-224-2043
Sen. Bob Casey, (D-PA) 202-224-6324
Sen. Joe Manchin III, (D-WV) 202-224-3954

Don’t see your Senators on this list? Find the phone numbers of your two Senators right here: https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

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Not only does the bill de-fund Planned Parenthood, it takes the taxpayer dollars that had been slated for the abortion business and sends them to legitimate women’s health care. The bills transfers funding from Planned Parenthood and sends it to agencies that provides for women’s health services including relevant diagnostic laboratory and radiology services, well-child care, prenatal and postpartum care, immunization, family planning services including contraception, sexually transmitted disease testing, cervical and breast cancer screenings, and referrals.

The bill cites state and local health departments, federally backed community health centers and other providers of health services to women who might get the money instead of Planned Parenthood. In fact, there are over 9,000 non-abortion health centers that provide the same or better women’s health care services as Planned Parenthood:

PPFA is the nation’s largest provider of abortions – about one-third of all abortions in the U.S. are performed at PPFA-affiliated facilities. PPFA also receives at least $528 million annually from the federal government or other levels of government, he explained.

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must Investigate Planned Parenthood for Selling Aborted Baby Parts

As LifeNews reported, the first video of undercover footage shows Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, describing how Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of aborted unborn children and admitting she uses partial-birth abortions to supply intact body parts.

In the second video, Planned Parenthood doctor Maru Gatter discusses the pricing of aborted baby body parts — telling the biotech company officials that the prices for such things as a baby’s liver, head or heart are negotiable. She also tells the officials that she could talk with the Planned Parenthood abortion practitioners to potentially alter the abortion procedure to kill the baby in a way that would best preserve those body parts after the unborn child is killed in the abortion.

A total of 12 states have already launched an investigation including South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Massachusetts, KansasMissouri, Arizona, Indiana, Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana and members of Congress have launched an investigation as well.

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