To hear America’s biggest abortion business tell the tale, “Planned Parenthood accepts reasonable regulation of abortion care for health and safety reasons.”
Planned Parenthood knows that majorities favor regulation of abortion. Thus their banshee-like screeching at the mere consideration of basic health and safety standards wouldn’t garner much sympathy. So the abortion lobby has to pretend that its objection isn’t to any regulation of its business enterprise, just the particular – always “extreme” – one being proposed. If only the legislators had consulted Planned Parenthood, we are led to believe, it could have helped them develop reasonable regulations of their revenue stream because “Planned Parenthood supports quality and safety-oriented regulation for all health care.”
Yet for all these claims, I am aware of no regulation of abortion – no matter how basic – that Planned Parenthood has ever supported. Nor can I locate any Planned Parenthood model bill regulating abortion clinics. Whether the question is parental notice for 14 year olds, prohibitions on born-alive “abortions,” simple health department inspections or the most basic health and safety standards, Planned Parenthood is always opposed – often with vitriol. It turns out that despite its average-reasonable-woman rhetoric Planned Parenthood has never actually met an abortion regulation that it likes. Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, abortion sellers gotta scream “War on Women!” when you ask them to wash their forceps.
This phenomenon is on perfect display in West Virginia right now where the Attorney General has requested public comments on whether abortion clinics in that state should be required to comply with basic health and safety standards and inspected like other ambulatory surgical centers to ensure that patient health is protected. The Attorney General’s request for the public’s input is in response to the revelation that a young woman named Itai Gravely seeking an abortion miles from the state capitol alleges that she was subjected to extreme pain, was physically restrained when she tried to stop the abortion, and later discovered that her unborn child’s head had been left inside her. Alliance Defending Freedom, along with our tireless ally Jeremy Dys of The Family Policy Council of West Virginia represents Gravely.
Mind you, the Attorney General has not made any specific proposal. He has simply reviewed West Virginia law, found a dearth of regulations on abortion clinics, and solicited public input. What a perfect opportunity for Planned Parenthood to dust off that long awaited model reasonable regulation of abortion clinics bill they have always claimed they support. Perhaps it would have provisions requiring abortionists to respect a woman’s choice to stop an abortion and, if they go through with the abortion, at least to not leave large body parts inside the woman where they might cause her physical and psychological harm. Seems reasonable enough.
Instead, Planned Parenthood has responded with a campaign claiming that “The West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is attacking the right of a woman to make personal medical decisions.” It urges women to stand up to this “outrageous over reach of his authority” by emailing him a form letter it has prepared. On twitter, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and their allies, are using the hashtag #AGGoneWild to urge people to stand up to Attorney General Morrisey. All this in response to his simple solicitation of public input about whether abortion clinics need basic health and safety regulations.
If there was ever any doubt about whether Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry is actually interested in protecting women’s health rather than its own bottom line, what is going on in West Virginia right now should put those doubts to rest.
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
Planned Parenthood’s panic will undoubtedly cause large numbers of abortion supporters to email the Attorney General in opposition to basic health and safety standards or inspections of abortion clinics. That’s why it is so important that you act right now. Please take 5 minutes to send even a brief email to [email protected] by 5 p.m. on Friday, August 16 and urge the Attorney General to support regulation of abortion clinics that will protect West Virginia women and encourage others to do the same. You can review Alliance Defending Freedom’s comments here.
LifeNews Note: Casey Mattox is an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom.
