Salt in gaping wound
Biden’s 11th-hour sucker punch to Christians
President Joe Biden conducted a private White House ceremony to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Cecile Richards, former Planned Parenthood president, on Nov. 20. Biden and first lady Jill Biden (at right) are pictured with Richards and her husband Kirk Adams. President Biden/X
An FBI SWAT team showed up at Mark Houck’s Philadelphia area home to arrest him in front of his wife and seven children related to events at an abortion clinic. Houck was indicted but later acquitted.
It was bad when the FACE Act was later used to arrest and imprison dozens of Americans for praying or singing at abortion clinics.
It grew worse when more than 400 crisis pregnancy centers and churches were firebombed or vandalized after the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Two cases were prosecuted.
The Biden administration’s last insult to American Christians is the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded on Nov. 20 to Cecile Richards, who led Planned Parenthood for 12 years.
Tyler Arnold wrote for the Catholic News Agency:
‘With absolute courage, [Richards] fearlessly leads us forward to be the America we say we are — a nation of freedom,’ Biden, the second Catholic president in American history, said in a post on X late Wednesday afternoon.
‘Through her work to lift up the dignity of workers, defend and advance women’s reproductive rights and equality, and mobilize Americans to exercise their power to vote, she has carved an inspiring legacy,’ Biden added.
Richards led Planned Parenthood during chaotic times. Many states established restrictions on abortions. Planned Parenthood created its own controversy.
For example, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $4.3 million settlement with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston. The DOJ’s August 2013 press release states:
The government alleges that between 2003 and 2009, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast billed and was paid by government programs, Texas Medicaid, Title XX, and the Women’s Health Program, for certain items and services related to birth control counseling, STD testing and contraceptives when such items and services were either not medically necessary, not medically indicated or not actually provided. Title XX is funded by the federal government while Texas Medicaid and the Women’s Health Program are funded jointly by the federal government and the State of Texas.
By June 2016, a $1.6 million settlement was announced by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General against Planned Parenthood Inc. of North Carolina. The HHS OIG press release stated:
After its self-disclosed conduct to OIG, Planned Parenthood Health System, Inc. . . . in North Carolina, agreed to pay $1,572,752.80 for potentially violating the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. Planned Parenthood submitted claims to Medicaid programs in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia that included the following billing errors: (1) services billed under a provider number different than the medical professional who provided the service and (2) billed for services of non-physician practitioners who were not properly enrolled in their state Medicaid program.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who weaponized the DOJ against many Americans, including people of faith, left the DOJ Friday in the main corridor to the applause of DOJ staff. U.S. Department of Justice/X
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America chronicled Planned Parenthood’s dismal record during Richards’ leadership. The organization wrote at sbaprolife.org in January 2018:
Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion business with more than 35 percent of the national market for abortions. It is not a significant provider of medical care in the United States.
According to Planned Parenthood’s 2016-17 annual report:
Planned Parenthood performed 321,384 abortions in 2016 and more than 1.6 million abortions over the past five reported years (2012-2017).
In 2016, abortions made up 96% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy resolution services, while prenatal services, miscarriage care, and adoption referrals accounted for only 2.3% (7,762), 0.4% (1,182) and 1.2% (3,889), respectively.
Prenatal services dropped nearly 18% in 2016 and more than 60% over the past five reported years.
For every adoption referral in 2016, Planned Parenthood performed more than 82 abortions. Over the past five years, the ratio was about 126 abortions for each adoption referral.
According to the last five years of data from Planned Parenthood’s own annual reports:
Total services are down nearly 13%.
Total cancer screening and prevention services have dropped by more than 41%, including declines of about 39% for breast exams and 43% for pap tests.
Contraceptive services are down nearly 28%.
Unique patients have dropped by 600,000 – a 20% decline.
About 100 (14%) of Planned Parenthood facilities have closed their doors.
Meanwhile, the Catholic TV channel EWTN conducted an interview in May 2017 of Alfonso Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, and Gloria Purvis, Black Catholics United for Life chairwoman. Aguilar and Purvis noted that PP has 80 percent of their abortion clinics within walking distance of black and Hispanic neighborhoods. In April 2017, Aguilar wrote an editorial in the Miami Herald reporting that “abortion represented 64 percent of all Latino deaths.”
Also, the Center for Medical Progress used undercover videos to report that Planned Parenthood harvested organs from aborted babies. That led to congressional hearings and hearings in several states about defunding Planned Parenthood. The Guttmacher Institute is the research group of Planned Parenthood. It produced a chart of nationwide funding restrictions on abortion. Those can be seen here.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom should be reserved for Americans who bring value, honor, and distinction to their communities and the nation, not because they’re a political ally.
President Biden wanted to reward the Democratic party’s death cult. Richards has the blood of millions of babies on her hands. No medal changes that.
