For those whose lives are not affected by facts, Planned Parenthood's new campaign may seem appealing. Striking fear into the hearts of all those who follow its lead, the organization has now asked its supporters to tell President Obama and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, why there are 10,000 reasons "why birth control coverage matters so very much to women (and men!) across the country." Planned Parenthood and those who fall for its plea demand that all healthcare providers, including Catholic facilities, make birth control and related services readily available to their clientele.
The recent Planned Parenthood action alert just so happens to include a comment from a "Catholic" who tells the reader, "Birth control is prevention! As a Catholic, I don't understand why the bishops don't get that."
Oh really? What is it that birth control is allegedly going to prevent? Could it be a baby? Well, if folks don't want to bear children, they don't need to ingest medicine. All such individuals have to do is avoid sexual relations.
The Catholic bishops are not attempting to impose religious doctrine on the nation. They are voicing a legitimate concern that, if Obama and his cronies have their way, Catholics in health care who love the Church will be put in the untenable position of either doing that which the Church teaches is a violation of God's will or they will have to depart their profession. There is no other choice.
But for Planned Parenthood and its "Catholic" followers, practicing self-control and accepting responsibility for one's actions - not to mention respecting the conscience rights of those who disagree with them - run counter to Planned Parenthood's doctrine. From their perspective the only good Catholic is the person who defies Catholic teaching and common sense. After all, from a purely selfish perspective, any thinking person who wants to live a healthy life would never touch birth control because it's dangerous. Not only does it have the potential to kill babies before birth, but it harms women in many ways. Yet Planned Parenthood won't be publicizing that information anytime soon. After all, the world's leading abortion chain wants your money. For Planned Parenthood it is not all about whether or not women are healthy, it's about the bottom line on its profit and loss statement.
Perhaps this is why Planned Parenthood tells the public that "99 percent of women" use birth control in America when the actual number is 62 percent. What is wrong with telling the truth? One has to believe it is part of the foundational principles upon which Planned Parenthood is founded - fibbing becomes truth if you repeat it with frequency.
And even though the facts bear out the truth that Catholic women use birth control at the same rate as non-Catholics, that does not justify deceiving anyone about what the pill does or how it works. As a matter of fact, Human Life International's Arland Nichols reports that "one of the newest and most popular types of oral contraceptives" increases a woman's risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). "VTE refers to the formation of blood clots in large veins (deep vein thrombosis) that can break loose, travel through the blood stream, and eventually block an artery in the lungs (pulmonary embolism). VTE may be responsible for some 100,000 deaths each year in the United States alone."
There are countless reasons why conscience rights should be respected and protected regardless of one's religious persuasion, but in the case of "reproductive health," there is a more fundamental right at stake - the right to live. No matter how often Planned Parenthood uses wayward Catholics or disrespects Catholic bishops, it will not change the facts. Planned Parenthood is wrong for women, deadly for babies, and disgustingly costly to American taxpayers.