New York Criticized for Giving Domestic Violence $ to Planned Parenthood
by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
March 12, 2004
Albany, NY (LifeNews.com) — The New York Criminal Justice Services has given over $20,000 of federal grant money to Planned Parenthood of Rochester and Syracuse, with the purpose of combating domestic violence.
Over $6 million in funding, from the federal STOP (Services, Training, Officers and Programs) Violence Against Women grant program created by the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, was distributed by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services to 117 agencies across New York.
Planned Parenthood of Rochester and Syracuse, an affiliate of the nation’s largest abortion business, was awarded $23,300 to continue the Sexual Assault Examiner program at Strong Memorial Hospital, which provides nurses and physicians to provide medical and legal treatment of sexual assault victims.
But, Chris Fitch, Legislative Director of New York State Right to Life called the award "extremely ironic," considering Planned Parenthood’s opposition to unborn victims laws, which make it an additional crime to kill or injure an unborn child.
Fitch cited several cases of domestic violence in her own state of New York, and said women are increasingly subjected to violence. Laws protecting pregnant women and their unborn children could reduce the occurrence of such crimes.
"Perpetrators of violence would know that unborn children and their mothers are protected," Fitch told LifeNews.com.
The New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services did not return inquiries from LifeNews.com.
"Those who continue to deny that an attack of pregnant women is an attack on two people negate women’s dearest possession, their children, born or unborn," said Suzanne Schnittman, domestic violence coordinator for Feminists of Life of New York. "On the tragic occasions when pregnant women are killed, those who refused to recognize that their relatives lost two loved ones rather than one could be motivated by politics alone."
Last month, after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the federal Unborn Victims of Violence act, Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt issued a statement, denouncing the legislation.
"The so-called Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA) is not intended to protect pregnant women or punish individuals who harm them," said Feldt. "It is part of a deceptive anti-choice strategy to make women’s bodies vessels by creating legal personhood for the fetus.
"This isn’t about abortion," said Fitch. "These are wanted children."
Charmaine Holbrook of Kentucky, who lost her unborn child last summer in an automobile accident, spoke at a January rally for the Kentucky "fetal homicide" law that passed in February. The other driver, who tried to pass in a no-passing zone, will be tried for a single charge of assault on Holbrook. He won’t be held accountable for killing her baby — a fact that has made her suffering more difficult.
"That man won’t spend one day — not one day in jail for killing my daughter," Holbrook said in a choked voice. "That’s unthinkable."
In California, Scott Peterson has been charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, due to California’s Unborn Victims law. Jury selection began last week in the case that received national attention.
Related Sites:
NY State Right to Life – https://www.nysrighttolife.org
NY State Division of Criminal Justice Services – https://criminaljustice.state.ny.us
