The Kroger grocery store chain is facing criticism from a pro-life research group that says Texas locations are donating to a fund that pays for abortions for lower income women.
The prolife group AbortionWiki, which conducts research into the abortion industry, says it has uncovered that Texas branches of popular grocery stores Kroger, Tom Thumb & Albertson’s are donors to an organization known as the “Texas Equal Access (TEA) Fund.”
“The three Texas grocery stores donate 1% of the purchases of registered TEA Fund members to the TEA Fund,” the organization says.
It notes that Jenni Heasman-Beaver, general manager for the Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center late-term abortion facility in Dallas, Texas serves on the board of the TEA Fund.
“Operating under the guise of assisting low-income women to gain access to abortion, money raised by the Fund goes directly into the coffers of abortion-mills such as Southwestern. To the tune of $151,000 in 2010,” Andy Moore of Abortion Wiki says.
While some pro-life advocates may not be signed up with the donation program, Moore responds: “However keep in mind that it is these stores, not the individual shoppers who are directly donating to the Fund. Therefore, when you shop at one of these stores, you are patronizing a store which is a direct funder of abortions for low-income/minority women.”
Moore is concerned that the TEA Fund targets minority women.
“In 2008, 47% of these mothers were African American, 19% were Hispanic. 46% of the mothers were between the ages of 12 – 22,” he said.
Kroger representatives did not return an email from LifeNews by press time.
According to the Tea Fund web site, “Most of our referrals come from clinics, when a woman tells a clinic that she wants an abortion and she can’t afford it. We do receive some referrals from our website, or from women’s shelters or social workers who know about us. The woman who needs our help calls our hotline and leaves a message, and one of our volunteers returns her call within 24 hours. We discuss the woman’s financial situation and our ability to help her. We do not provide options counseling, although we can refer women to resources that do. We do not pay the full cost of an abortion for any woman; usually our grants are in the range of $50 to $100. This amount is paid directly to the clinic, after the woman has received the procedure.”
The organization is a nonprofit group and donatios are tax-deductible.
ACTION: Contact Kroger by going to https://www.kroger.com/help/Pages/contact_us.aspx
