Part II: From Bleecker St. to a Miracle on Court St.

The Planned Parenthood  premises occupies a sizeable corner location on the block.  We started to walk around the block - praying together aloud, pitched at normal conversational level.

Then Hannah suggested that we read Joshua 6: 1-27 on the siege and fall of Jericho:
Now Jericho was shut up inside and out..... And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once.....On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow trumpets......then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat".

She sourced it on her smart phone and I listened and meditated on it as she read.  In our minds, Jericho became  the abortion mill before us.  We likened our rounds of the block to the marching around  Jericho and earnestly willed and implored God that the abortion mill, too, would fall as Jericho once had done, and be claimed for HIM.

This and our preceding prayers really raised us up!  After our three rounds of the block, my spirits were high, almost buoyant. I was joyful, despite the grim reality before us.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me...." (Psalm 23:4).

After a few rounds, we chose and assumed our respective stations on the sidewalk and continued to walk - this time up and down past the P.P. door - and pray, while scanning the sidewalk for approaching women.  The initial prayers - a sort of spiritual arming - really set us up for our morning at the abortuary. This was unsurprising given the power of both public prayer and witness, and praying together -
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:20).

This joy spurred me on, praying, reciting any lines  I  remember from psalms and singing quitely, as I am a very bad singer and for this reason, I never developed  much of a repertoire of songs, or hymns!!....

Photo: Myself, Claire outside Planned Parenthood on Bleecker St.

Part I: From Bleecker St. to a Miracle on Court St.

Myself and Hannah arrived at the Planned Parenthood on Bleecker St., Manhattan at 7.30am Wednesday morning. It was my third time at an abortion facility for the purpose of sidewalk counselling. The second occasion had been outside Dr. Emily's in The Bronx the previous morning. That morning, I'd felt apprehensive  and  ill-prepared (though this wasn't the case). Therefore, I was grateful when no clients arrived early. This bought me time! I prayed that God would enable me by dispelling my nerves, lending me his voice and giving me the courage and confidence to approach and engage effectively with the women.
This morning at P.P. on Bleecker St. though, I felt more capable.
A dual approach is necessary at abortion mills: prayer and action! Yet, there can  be an amount of standing in between making overtures to the arriving expectant mothers.
I've found that standing outside clinics can lend itself to a certain feeling of frustration and helplessness. This, I think, stems from the fact that you are essentially an unwitting bystander in the face of the horrific and insidious practice that is being perpetrated just at the other side of the building's wall. You can do nothing physically to prevent its occurence, lest be incarcerated.
We'd only been there for minutes when Hannah was feeling the afore-mentioned frustration a little more than I. She suggested praying whilst walking  around the block.......
Photos: Myself, Claire outside Dr. Emily's abortion mill in The Bronx and myself and Hannah at the same facility.

Secret Shoppers

I used to work at a deli/bakery back home called Wheat Montana. We sold sandwiches, soup, pastries, etc, as well as loaves of Wheat Montana brand bread.

Frequently at work, the topic of "Secret," or "Mystery," Shopppers would come up. Secret Shoppers are people who are paid by a company to go into company stores to test and rate their products and services, such as ordering food from restaurants, buying shoes from shoe stores, etc. The Secret Shopper then fills out a form rating various details about his or her experience, turns it in to the company, and gets paid. (This is for real- I once applied to do it so I know.)

Every time somebody got wind that a Secret Shopper might be coming in the next few days, all the employees would be on their best behavior. We wanted good ratings & maybe even a special mention by name from the Secret Shoppers. If we got really bad ratings, we'd be in trouble and our jobs could be on the line.

If you're reading this blog, you've probably heard of Lila Rose. She's a young woman who started the organization Live Action, a group which does undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood to expose the abuse and lies inside its facilities. Through secret cameras hidden in the clothes of undercover agents, Lila's organization has discovered widespread coverups of statutory rape and child sex rings, racism, outright lies during counseling sessions, and on and on.

Of course, Planned Parenthood goes ballistic every time Lila puts out shocking new videos. They make excuses, say that she violated the clinics' privacy, deny the evidence, etc. They even started putting up posters with her picture on them inside every facility so that all the employees would know who to look for!

To me, Lila Rose and her co-investigators are like Secret Shoppers. All they're doing is testing out a product and pushing a few buttons to see how the employees will react, no different than the Secret Shoppers who came into my deli. The difference is, restaurants and shoe stores actually HIRE Secret Shoppers so that they can maintain the quality of their services and weed out all the bad employees. Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with the Secret Shoppers because it has a LOT to hide! PP is corrupt to the core and that's how it stays in business- obtaining secret abortions for minors, protecting abusers, and preying on minorities.

If Planned Parenthood actually cared about women, it would be elated every time Live Action comes out with a new video! Cecile Richards (CEO) would apologize publicly for her employees' behavior and thank Lila for discovering all the shocking things its employees are doing, so that she can fire them and get rid of corruption in her organization. Maybe she'd even try to hire Lila. But instead, Planned Parenthood plays the victim of....the truth?

Video footage doesn't lie, and Planned Parenthood is scared. The United States is beginning to learn what PP is really all about, and it's obviously not about helping women. Then again, what do you expect from an organization that makes money killing babies?

***Note: If you haven't watched Live Action's videos yet, check them out, along with the fantastic Live Action blog! This site is an excellent resource for all pro-lifers: liveaction.org

Strength in numbers

Several weeks ago, I joined with dozens of pro-life Catholics for a procession after a Mass to Planned Parenthood in Manhattan, where they prayed the Rosary for at least an hour. When we arrived, we stood in a long line directly across the street from the abortuary. Two escorts (fondly referred to as "deathscorts" by prolifers) stood in front of PP, waiting to escort customers inside or open the door for them. Deathscorts are commonly volunteers from the hardcore pro-choice community, and some are paid full-time.

At first, one of the deathscorts pointed and counted with her fingers how many of us there were- I think around 40- and acted sarcastically impressed with our numbers. Although she wore a confident smug look on her face, I couldn't help but think how uncomfortable she must be inside. Two versus forty! They were quite outnumbered.

Later on, another worker began to take pictures of us, and then video, with her camera. This is a very common intimidation tactic used by clinic workers and pro-choice protesters all over the country. At this point I had to contain my laughter because some of the pro-lifers were also taking a bunch of pictures and videos of our group! None of use minded the cameras, so the deathscort's attempt to bug us was futile.

Seeing the deathscorts so outnumbered reminded me just how pathetic they are. They are probably seeking justification for past choices by doing this job, but all that abortion can offer is more death, lies, and misery. They are proud of what they do, but I just felt extremely sorry for them.

strength in numbers.

Beyond the fact that the deathscorts had to listen to repetitive prayers for an hour, I think something else must have bothered them: our numbers. They were outnumbered twenty to one. It's practically part of their job description to act intimidating, but in this situation it was useless. Surely they must have been just a little scared, deep down inside; If I was in their shoes, I would have been terrified! And as for me, I have never felt more confident in front of an abortion clinic than when I was part of a wall of people praying.

The phrase "strength in numbers" is SO true. With numbers, especially outside of abortion clinics, we are safer, more powerful, more confident, and ultimately we can have more of an impact. The area surrounding an abortion clinic is a spiritual battleground. God's army is always bigger than the Devil's- may our numbers reflect that!

Planned Parenthood, round II

A little-known fact about Planned Parenthood is that it was founded by a racist eugenicist, Margaret Sanger. Sanger was part of an elite group of eugenicists whose vision was essentially the same as Hitler's, and she even spoke at at least one Klu Klux Klan meeting. I cannot respect any organization that was founded on racism with a goal of wiping out the African American race along with other minorities and "imperfect" people- and which remains racist to this day, targeting African Americans for abortions. Here in New York City, 60% of black babies are aborted. According to the 2006 census, African Americans are not replacing themselves and are in danger of extinction by 2100, thanks to abortion.

This is an extremely important aspect of the pro-life movement to be educated on, because regardless of a person's opinion about abortion, he or she cannot debate history- and so it's a great way to open up discussion about Planned Parenthood. Most people, even pro-lifers, don't have any idea of the depth of corruption in this organization's roots. It is important to understand that PP was not founded on "women's rights" but on an agenda of ethnic cleansing for the United States. Below are some great informative websites to get started:

Margaret Sanger's "Negro Project":

http://www.toomanyaborted.com/?page_id=13

Margaret Sanger:

http://blackgenocide.org/sanger.html
http://www.gateway.org/content/pdf/quotes.pdf

overview of current PP racism by Alveda King, the niece of MLK, Jr:
http://www.priestsforlife.org/africanamerican/blog/index.php/blacks-face-racial-challenge-from-abortion

PP accepting racist donations:
http://liveaction.org/planned-parenthood-racism-project

For the full story, I highly recommend an excellent documentary about the founding of Planned Parenthood and eugenics in the USA called "Maafa21." It's very long but extremely fascinating and informative. I challenge anybody to say that Planned Parenthood was NOT founded on racism and eugenics after watching this film. It is available to order at maafa21.com, or in segments on on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASrFufnMNDg

Planned Parenthood, round I (a.k.a. handy dandy PP fact sheet)

In the midst of the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood's federal funding, here is my own two cents...

there is absolutely no justification for supporting an organization which makes money (regardless of the amount) by killing babies- NONE. No amount of other services that Planned Parenthood provides is worth the life of a single innocent child being ripped apart in its mother's womb.

To say that the good Planned Parenthood does outweighs its evil is like saying that the good the Nazis did outweighed their evil. “Sure- Hitler may have killed 11,000 people in concentration camps, but hey, he built great roads and he sure fixed the economy!” I don't buy that, and neither can I accept any disguise for an organization which kills more than 1.1 MILLION preborn children worldwide each year.

Aside from asking how anybody can defend the biggest abortion business in the entire world, and through that, defend the reprehensible act of abortion itself, I will ignore abortion altogether. I will not even talk about abortion when listing the multitude of corruptions found in Planned Parenthood. So here is just a sampling of reasons (with links for more detailed info) that Planned Parenthood doesn't deserve a cent of taxpayer funding:

Planned Parenthood covers up statutory rape:

http://liveaction.org/monalisa

http://www.childpredators.com/

http://www.mrctv.org/videos/planned-parenthoods-cover-reported-rape

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/2005/apr/05040504

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/1970/51/7051605

...and child prostitution rings:

http://liveaction.org/traffick

Planned Parenthood breaks numerous laws:

http://www.aul.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/PPReport_MAIN-REPORT_Download.pdf

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/107-count-criminal-case-begins-against-planned-parenthood-in-kansas/

http://www.operationrescue.org/archives/tx-abortion-abuses/

PP claims that abortion is not the main focus of its services, yet it performs more and more abortions every year (http://exposeplannedparenthood.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Services-to-Women.jpg) and now it is mandating that all of its affiliates must perform abortions by 2013 (http://liveaction.org/blog/abby-johnson-three-planned-parenthood-deceptions/). PP is misleading about providing the service of mammograms (http://www.jillstanek.com/2011/02/cecile-richards-misleads-planned-parenthood-does-not-provide-mammograms/) and also misleading about the portion of its services which constitute abortions (http://liveaction.org/blog/planned-parenthood-presidents-abortion-claim-false/). Planned Parenthood does not prevent or reduce abortions (http://liveaction.org/blog/pps-new-abortion-numbers-going-nowhere-but-up/). PP is legally classified as a non-profit, but as anyone who works their rear end off in a non-profit knows (myself included), "non-profit" means you don't make a profit. But PP's financial reports indicate otherwise. For instance P.P. made a profit of $63 million dollars in its 2008-2009 fiscal year (http://www.lifeissues.org/pp/)!

Many claim that without Planned Parenthood, millions of women will have nowhere to turn to for basic healthcare. That statement is the equivalent of saying without Wendy's, I will have no access to hamburgers. This is the USA and there is an abundance of other affordable health clinics- for instance, the clinic I work for, which offers low-cost & also completely free services to anybody who can't afford it, but is non-profit and takes no government funding. Additionally, there are about 7,000 federally funded community health centers where people can go to get all the services which PP claims would be unavailable if they didn't exist:

about community health centers: http://www.nachc.org/client/documents/America%27s_Health_Centers_updated_3.09.pdf

and finally, to find a community health center: http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/Search_HCC.aspx