True Pro-Lifers Don't Praise Planned Parenthood

By Michael Brown, Op-ed Contributor Sunday, March 06, 2016

Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He is the author of 25 books and hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire.

Allow me to make an extreme comparison.

Along with their murderous, barbaric policies and practices, the Nazis engaged in serious medical research, and some Nazi doctors, like Prof. Dr. Julius Hallervorden (1882-1965), a famous neurologist who became head of the Neuropathology Department of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research in 1938, continued to advance their medical research after the Holocaust.

Yet no person in his or her right mind would say, "I hate the fact that these Nazi doctors were involved in torturing and slaughtering so many people, but they helped a lot of people too, so I'm going to be balanced in my criticism."

To highlight the absurdity of this, let's consider Donald Trump's post-Super Tuesday comments when he again gave qualified praise to Planned Parenthood. But here I'll substitute "Nazis" for "Planned Parenthood" and "genocide" for "abortion."

His comments would then read: "Look, the Nazis have done very good work for many, many — for millions of women. And I'll say it, and I know a lot of the so-called conservatives, they say that's really … cause I'm a conservative, but I'm a common-sense conservative."

"We're not going to allow, and we're not going to fund, as long as you have the genocide going on . . . ."

To quote (with the same word-changes) from his most recent debate, "So you can say whatever you want, but they have millions of women going through the Nazis that are helped greatly."

Can you imagine anyone making statements like these?

For all those who are offended by the comparison between the Nazis and Planned Parenthood and between genocide and abortion, please take a look at some abortion photos, consider the compelling evidence that Planned Parenthood traffics in aborted baby parts (despite a recent court ruling to the contrary), and remember that Planned Parenthood has covered up for men who sexually abused minors.

Note also that, according to the Heritage Foundation, "Despite a nearly 20 percent decline in the number of abortions in the country between 2000 and 2011, the number of abortions Planned Parenthood performed during that time increased from 197,070 to 333,964, thereby more than doubling its share of the abortion market from 15 percent in 2000 to 32 percent in 2011, the latest year for which national data are available."

Put simply, can anyone who is in any true sense of the word pro-life praise the nation's largest and most aggressive abortion provider, despite other services they perform?

To give another example, no one with a pro-life bone in their body would say, "Well, Dr. Kermit Gosnell helped a lot of women over the years, and we really appreciate that, but we're upset that he killed living babies as well."

No. They would excoriate Gosnell's so-called "House of Horrors" and would say that it's good he's behind bars.

In the same way, it is absolutely ludicrous that Donald Trump would once more sing the praises of Planned Parenthood (with the exception of their abortion industry) at his Tuesday night, widely-televised, national press conference, despite all the innocent baby blood on their hands.

More absurd still, he called those who criticized him on this "so-called conservatives."

What, Mr. Trump? Will you say that to the people who, as true moral conservatives, have sacrificially invested dozens of years of their lives to fight against Planned Parenthood? Would you say that they are "so-called conservatives" and you are the true conservative because you recognize all the good Planned Parenthood has done?

If women's health care is an issue to you (and I believe it is), then let the government help out the countless thousands of non-Planned Parenthood healthcare clinics. These clinics massively outnumber the Planned Parenthood clinics and they do not have the blood of abortion on their hands.

For those who are still upset with me over the Nazi comparison (and I'm not claiming it is an exact parallel), let's change the analogy for a moment.

Let's say there's a big hospital that has operated in your city for decades, saving thousands of lives over the years with its terrific healthcare programs. Unfortunately, it's also infamous for euthanizing about one-third of its patients, both young and old, at the discretion of the doctors.

You would not say, "Hey, I would fund the hospital if not for all that euthanasia. You see, I've heard from thousands of people — I have letters from them — telling me about the great work they do. They've really helped a lot of people."

Of course not.

You would say instead, "What a horror! That hospital needs to be shut down today and those doctors need to be charged with murder."

So it is with Planned Parenthood, and if anyone needed proof that Donald Trump is still not a true pro-life candidate, his continued qualified praise of Planned Parenthood, coupled with the vilification of his conservative pro-life critics, says it all.

With the makeup of the Supreme Court hanging in the balance and with the absence of Justice Scalia already being felt, it is critical that we elect a true pro-life president.

Let's do what we need to do while the options are still there.

Michael Brown is the host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire and is the president of FIRE School of Ministry. His newest book (September, 2015) is Outlasting the Gay Revolution: Where Homosexual Activism Is Really Going and How to Turn the Tide. Connect with him on Facebook at AskDrBrown or on Twitter at drmichaellbrown.