Pro-Lifers Keep Pressure Against Builder of Texas Abortion Biz

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 8, 2012   |   12:38PM   |   Fort Worth, TX

The battle in Forth Worth, Texas, to stop the building of a new Planned Parenthood abortion business next to an adoption agency continues, and local pro-life advocates are placing their main focus on the contractor.

The new center at 6400 John Ryan Drive is being described as a “state-of-the-art” facility which, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “will include a larger family planning center, an ambulatory surgical care center and offices.” Construction began in March and the facility is set to open next year.

LifeNews has profiled three other companies associated with building the new abortion facility, but Kristen Walker, writing at the Live Action blog, says Texas residents who are upset about the construction of the new facility should contact The DeMoss Co. as well.

The general contractor on the 19,377-square-foot, two-story job is The DeMoss Co. With long-term ties to Ft. Worth, Jim DeMoss also has ties to Planned Parenthood. His wife Margaret’s name was associated with the 2010 annual Planned Parenthood budget report; she was a fundraiser for their $21-million North Texas campaign, and the Ft. Worth co-chair.

Sources say DeMoss failed to inform his employees what kind of facility they were building. When they found out, he allowed Planned Parenthood to warn them of violent extremists, angry protesters, and the threat of bodily harm, leaving them shaken but committed to staying on the job.

DeMoss has reportedly built many churches in Ft. Worth and surrounding areas for about fifteen years, many of which were featured on his website, including Travis Avenue Baptist. At last look they had been removed from the page, some say at the churches’ request.

As has been the case with the building of new Planned Parenthood abortion centers in places like Illinois, Oregon and Colorado, there is concern that Planned Parenthood is withholding information from the public and government officials about what it is building.

Texans for Life has also been told that there was no indication anywhere on the plans filed with the municipality that the end result would be a Planned Parenthood center – and not just a center, but an ambulatory surgery, where late-term abortions can be committed next door to The Edna Gladney Center, a well-known adoption agency. Planned Parenthood has denied any deception and claimed that they are forced to operate in secret for fear of violent activism. They have also, according to peaceful boycott members and protesters, installed an alarm triggered to go off if anyone gets too near the curb (for prayer, parking, etc.); the alarm blasts directly into the dormitory wing of the Gladney adoption center, where expectant mothers are housed.

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Fortunately, some of those contractors and builders involved in the project have done their due diligence to find out what is being built and decided they could no longer be associated with building an abortion clinic.

It wasn’t until he was given the address of the new Planned Parenthood site that Tim Pulliam of Pulliam Concrete realized that he was on that very job, and scheduled to pour in the morning. He immediately pulled his men and walked away, followed by Tri-Dal, Phillips Electric (saying, “We’d rather walk than have anything to do with a job like that”), and other subcontractors. Rone Engineers, founded and run by a Catholic, will do no additional work on the site.

A protester holding a sign bearing the face of an aborted fetus last Wednesday reported that a worker leaving the site pointed to it and asked, “Is that what we’re building?” When she replied that it was, he said, “I’m done; I’m not coming back. I’m pro-life, so I won’t be working this job anymore.”

The president of Planned Parenthood of North Texas said there’s a reason the organization’s name is not on the project.

“From the beginning, we intended to be public with this project,” Ken Lambrecht said. “We wanted to choose the right time, so that our contractors wouldn’t have to endure the harassment and intimidation that Planned Parenthood staffers and patients must endure on a day-to-day basis.”

Lambrecht said Planned Parenthood helped provide more than 6,000 abortions in North Texas in 2010.

Pastor Al Meredith of nearby Wedgwood Baptist Church told the news outlet that construction workers have a right to know they may be working to build a business that destroys the lives of women and children.

“And that way people can act according to their convictions,” Meredith said.

Elizabeth Graham, Director of Texas Right to Life, says that the best way for concerned North Texas residents to oppose Planned Parenthood’s construction project is to influence the contractors.

“Our goal is to save lives by making Planned Parenthood spend more time and money on this project than budgeted. If we can’t completely stop the construction, we can delay it and make it more expensive to complete. Residents can do this by encouraging contractors to use their valuable labor on projects that benefit the community, not destroy it,” she said.

The new abortion facility is slated to do abortions up to 24 weeks into pregnancy. To complain about their participation, contact DeMoss Co. at 817-920-9990 or write them at 4205 Stadium Dr. #100, Ft. Worth, TX, 76133.