It did not seem to matter to the protesters from the Utah Eagle Forum that Planned Parenthood’s stated vision is to “(create) a community where every child is a wanted child, where people make informed and responsible health decisions and where everyone has access to affordable, quality reproductive health care and the right to choose.”
The Eagle Forum is a conservative national organization that believes strongly in family values and that the founding fathers always intending that religion to be a part of government, according to their website. Their beliefs are similar to Libertarians in that they are against nearly all governmental involvement and support the free market and major tax cuts.
The Eagle Forum’s chapters across the country were holding what they called a prayer vigil for the unborn victims of Planned Parenthood. There were 15 adults, some of them senior citizens – and even some children – picketing the Orem Planned Parenthood facility. Unlike the typical somber nighttime religious ceremony of a prayer vigil, Monday’s gathering was just picketing for religious reasons.
This event comes not too long after seven sting operations across the nation were performed by a pro-life group called Live Action. Video from the one of the stings showed Virginia Planned Parenthood employees telling actors they thought were pimps how to get away with sexual human trafficking of minors and illegal immigrants.
Those employees are said to be aberrations, were immediately fired and new training has begun for all Planned Parenthood employees, according to a response from planned parenthood the organization.
Planned Parenthoods across the nation were also picketed on January 22, the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Despite the health care provided to some 43,000 uninsured people a year in the form of pap smears, birth control, counseling on family planning as well as screenings for things like diabetes, STDs and cervical and breast cancer, Planned Parenthood is seen as the group to target because they provide the most abortions nationally.
The funny thing is that the Orem facility does not even perform abortions. Salt Lake City has the only Planned Parenthood facility in Utah that conducts them. The main issue is the tax money given to the group; however, only private money is used to provide that service. It would have only taken a phone call to the Orem Planned Parenthood office to clarify that.
With the recent vote to repeal healthcare reform, what other option do uninsured women have to even get a regular pap smear if funding is cut from this organization? The questions is, what other group is “committed to providing accurate information to individuals of all ages concerning the emotional and physical aspects of human sexual behavior and reproduction; providing affordable, high quality reproductive health care services; and protecting and advocating for the rights of individuals to understand and manage their own reproductive lives”?
