By Liberty McArtor, The Stream, January 17, 2018
Planned Parenthood is out to get your teenagers. How? By convincing them that Planned Parenthood will always be there for them.
Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards explains as much in an interview with the tech magazine Fast Company out Monday. When Planned Parenthood first offered its text-chat service, a teenager told them she had no one to talk to and they said they would help her. They got her the medical attention she needed. “And I’ll never forget,” Richards says,
we texted at the end, “Do you have everything you need for now?” And she said, just like a teenager would, “You have been a lifesaver,” with a little smiley face emoticon. And then a couple minutes later she texted back, “But will you still be there later tonight if I need you?” That, to me, is what Planned Parenthood is all about.
Planned Parenthood a “lifesaver”? No. But we can’t blame the girl for thinking they were. She had no one to talk to. Who was she supposed to call, text, or chat with online? Media, celebrities, and likely her school all gave her one answer: Planned Parenthood. These people are here for you.
Look at the Numbers
Of course these are the stories Richards loves to tell. Perhaps this idea of their work is why so many people are stumbling over themselves to do “their part” for Planned Parenthood, as she bragged to Fast Company.
She wants everyone, especially your vulnerable teenager, to believe that Planned Parenthood really is there listen, provide necessary medical care and explain the options to youth and pregnant women in need.
But the reality is that Planned Parenthood excels at one thing only: abortion. Their annual reports prove this. Consider this breakdown of the most recent report from Alexandra DeSanctis in National Review. Planned Parenthood performed 321,384 abortions, but only issued 3,889 adoption referrals and performed only 7,762 prenatal services. “Planned Parenthood performed 83 abortions for every one adoption referral last year. And its prenatal services have dropped steadily every year since 2009, from over 40,000 that year to just under 8,000 last year.”
As DeSanctis notes: “Hardly ‘comprehensive women’s health care.’” Nevertheless, Richards and other Planned Parenthood apologists continue to hoodwink people into believing that Planned Parenthood is there to offer lifesaving help. They’ve got a lot of teens believing it.
Send a Loud Message: We’re Here to Help
Planned Parenthood markets itself well. Really well. A text-chat service for scared teens who have no one else to turn to? Admit it. That’s brilliant.
Earlier I argued that the pro-life community must extend more practical, financial help to pregnant women in need. We have to be there for them. Richards’ self-congratulatory anecdote proves my point — and adds another imperative. We need to let people know we’re there for them.
What good is it to offer truly lifesaving care to vulnerable teens, pregnant women and their babies if no one knows we’re offering it?
Cecile Richards wants your teen — and the funding to keep performing more abortions than any other provider. Pro-lifers, let’s send a message loud and clear: Planned Parenthood isn’t there for you — unless you pay them for an abortion. We’re here to help you, for real.
_____________________
Liberty McArtor is a Staff Writer for The Stream. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Patrick Henry College and previously worked in Washington, D.C., as a radio producer for WMAL’s weekend talk show and at First Liberty Institute in Plano, Texas. Liberty resides in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with her husband and their beloved cat. Follow Liberty on Twitter @LibertyMcArtor