Austin Planned Parenthood Boycott Forces "Unusual" Actions
by Maria Gallagher
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
December 14, 2003
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) — Some pro-life businesses are turning to advertising to help prevent a multi-million-dollar abortion center from opening in Austin.
Texas Contractors and Suppliers for Life took out a full-page ad in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper in an effort to stop Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion operation, from building in the Texas town.
The advertising follows an extensive boycott campaign launched by the contractors in order to put a halt to the building project. As a result of the effort, the main contractor, Browning Construction, pulled out, forcing Planned Parenthood to serve as its own contractor.
"I know that seems a little bit unusual, but these are unusual times that call for unusual tactics," Danielle Tierney, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, told News 8, an Austin television channel.
But the contractors’ pro-life group is hoping economic pressure will force Planned Parenthood to give up the building project.
"Hopefully Planned Parenthood will decide it’s not worth it, and sell the property to someone else," Chris Danze, the organizer of the group, told the station.
Planned Parenthood officials have admitted they do not know when construction will resume on the project.
Ground-breaking occurred in September, but, as the boycott campaign began to intensify, construction slowed.
"What we weren’t prepared for was our general contractor to pull out of the project six weeks later," Tierney told the station.
Planned Parenthood claims boycott organizers have threatened subcontractors working on the project. But boycott leaders insist the claim is false.
Danze said he simply told subcontractors the truth: that building an abortion center could hurt their business.
"I told the vendors we worked with they would be removed from our approved vendor list if they worked on the project," Danze said.
If construction does resume on the site, Danze has vowed to publicize the names of the subcontractors. Danze is also asking churches to boycott contractors who do business with Planned Parenthood.
Despite Planned Parenthood’s claims that it is working to reduce abortions, Danze suggests that the organization is committed to promoting both promiscuity and abortion.
"Planned Parenthood is an organization with a health care wrapper that is a social movement at its core," Danze told LifeNews.com.
Danze adds that this social movement promotes "sexual chaos," especially among young people. "Out of this chaos comes the violence of abortion," Danze said.
