The following is a letter from Ohio Right to Life president Mike Gonidakis to the Columbus Dispatch newspaper:
Friday’s Dispatch editorial ” Aiming at wrong target” greatly missed the mark in terms of moral consistency and accuracy. As a father who adopted my African-American son from the east side of Cleveland, mere blocks from one of the state’s largest abortion mills, I am saddened that the editorial would suggest that my organization opposes efforts to save babies, black and white, and end infant mortality.
While state legislators and opinion leaders wring their hands about the infant-mortality crisis, the editorial supports funding one of the largest killer of babies, Planned Parenthood. Talk about having the fox guard the hen house.
Make no mistake: Every dime that is given to Planned Parenthood for nonlethal services frees up another dime that can be used for lethal services.
Consider this: Outside of the womb, black babies are dying at more than twice the rate of white babies. But inside of the womb, black babies are aborted at more than three times the rate of white babies. Where is the moral indignation?
In 2013, more than 23,000 abortions took place in Ohio. Forty-two percent (9,075 abortions) were performed on black women, even though they make up just 12 percent of the population.
Every single human life, inside and outside of the womb, matters to Ohio Right to Life. That is why we take a holistic approach to infant mortality. It is why we supported Medicaid expansion.
While we can claim consistency, all that Planned Parenthood has is the sophistry of elites who would claim that they saved one baby while sending three more to death.
The Dispatch states that Planned Parenthood “also” performs abortions, as if it is some kind of side service, but it is the organization’s main business.
Just what are the “critically important services” that Planned Parenthood provides? Not one Planned Parenthood office in the state of Ohio has a mammogram machine. Not one offers prenatal care to women. None of them, therefore, is just a “public health” entity.
Tell us, Planned Parenthood: Is your idea of reducing infant mortality merely a matter of killing them in the womb instead of the crib?
We do not suggest “cutting” funding for efforts to reduce infant mortality. We want to send it to other organizations that aren’t known for killing babies — who are consistent in their approach to saving lives.
The real outrage and horrific irony revealed here is that Planned Parenthood is getting taxpayer money to save black babies. That is, after all, the focus of the “Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies” program. Shame on Planned Parenthood, and shame on the state of Ohio. Abortion is the No. 1 killer of black people — not AIDS, not violent crimes, not cancer, not heart disease. And yet the state of Ohio wants more funding for Big Abortion.
