Portland, Oregon to Close Deal For Abortion Center in African-American Area
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 11, 2008
Portland, OR (LifeNews.com) — City officials in Portland, Oregon are expected to close the deal on Wednesday with the nation’s largest abortion business that would put a new abortion facility in a historically black neighborhood. Pro-life advocates there are launching a last-minute campaign to stop the deal from going through.
Planned Parenthood Columbia-Willamette’s abortion business is growing and its leaders want to move its large center to a part of Portland where city officials had been hoping to revitalize a formerly run-down area.
It initially said it would open a new abortion center with more than 140 employees.
Bill Diss, the head of Precious Children of Portland and one of the leaders in protesting the construction of the new center, has said there is a racial component to the decision.
"Planned Parenthood wants to move and enlarge their headquarters and abortion center from an area in southeast Portland with a black population of about 1% and place it in the King neighborhood that has a black population of about 43%," he explains.
"Portland only has an overall population of about 6% Blacks. Planned Parenthood will reduce this number even more with their new facility," Diss says.
Now, Diss tells LifeNews.com that PPCW is scheduled to close on a deal on Wednesday with the city of Portland to use urban renewal land for building the giant Planned Parenthood facility.
"Portland Development Commission, the urban renewal agency for the area, owns the land and wants to use it to kill babies," Diss says. "We do not want the City of Portland to work with Planned Parenthood and sell urban renewal land to build a prenatal killing center."
Diss is encouraging pro-life advocates to contact Mayor Tom Potter, Mayor Elect and City Commissioner Sam Adams, and Bruce Warner, the Portland Development Commission Director.
Diss previously told LifeNews.com the Portland Development Commission betrayed the interests of the local ethnic community it was supposed to promote.
"The PDC is supposed to assist local and minority owned businesses for the long-term sustainable growth of Portland. Instead, PDC is using taxpayer resources to help Planned Parenthood, an international, multi-million dollar organization," he says.
David Greenberg, president of the abortion business, told the Oregonian previously that it’s moving because it’s experiencing more funding and more demand for its family planning services and has run out of space at its current location in the Southeast part of town.
That hasn’t made Rev. LeRoy Haynes Jr., pastor at the nearby Allen Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, very happy.
He said the black community in Portland isn’t happy about having a Planned Parenthood there.
"If they would bring a clinic that does abortions, that would be a big issue in our community," he told the Oregonian newspaper. "It is a moral, faith-based issue to me."
Last year, Oregonians voted against a parental involvement proposal by a 54-46 percentage margin after Planned Parenthood outspent pro-life advocates 3-1 and flooded the airwaves with a misleading television commercial.
But, thanks to efforts from Oregon Right to Life and crisis pregnancy centers, abortions in Oregon are down to their lowest levels since 1998, having decreased 20 percent between then and 2004, the latest year from which state data is available.
The Oregon Department of Human Services reported 14,344 abortions in 1998, but that number decreased to 11,443 abortions in 2004.
ACTION: Contact the following officials and urge strong opposition to the new Planned Parenthood abortion center: Mayor Tom Potter (503-823-4120, [email protected]), City Commissioner Sam Adams (503-823-3008), and Bruce Warner (503-823-3200 [email protected])
Related web sites:
Precious Children for Portland – https://www.preciouschildrenofportland.org
Oregon Right to Life – https://www.ortl.org
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
