Trying to Put Lipstick on a Pig

By Ken Connor, CP Contributor Sunday, June 29, 2008

Planned Parenthood is in search of a makeover. For years, the organization has been the biggest abortionist in the business, but as abortion is losing its cachet, Planned Parenthood is trying to reinvent itself. It seems that killing children for cash is just not as fashionable as it used to be.

According to Stephanie Simon of the Wall Street Journal, Planned Parenthood wants to "[open] new avenues for boosting revenue and, they hope, political clout." The first step in the organization's redo involves marketing itself to customers in a higher income bracket. Planned Parenthood is building new centers with larger waiting areas, wooden floors, nice lighting and other amenities which create a more inviting environment and, presumably, make clients feel less shameful about the act they are contemplating. A new "green" clinic is going up in Massachusetts, made of recycled and earth-friendly materials. "Express centers" are being located in malls so that young women can have quick and easy access to birth control, tests for sexually transmitted diseases and counseling. Gift shops make the centers more appealing to their young clientele.

In its early years Planned Parenthood was directed by Margaret Sanger who advocated for a "right" for women to choose to kill their unborn children. She also promoted a Congressional plan which would, in part, "apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring."

Sanger wanted to use reproductive controls to halt the "vicious cycle" of poverty and ignorance. She argued, "There is only one cure for both, and that is to stop breeding these things. Stop bringing to birth children whose inheritance cannot be one of health or intelligence. Stop bringing into the world children whose parents cannot provide for them. Herein lies the key of civilization."

Sanger advocated "choice" as a tool for eugenics. "Only upon a free, self-determining motherhood can rest any unshakable structure of racial betterment." Yet she did not believe that this exalted idea of choice should apply to "the undeniably feeble-minded." In other words, Sanger thought the mentally handicapped should be sterilized by force, people should be sterilized to remove unwanted traits from the populace, and the country should seek racial perfection.

Planned Parenthood's modern advocacy of "choice" is rooted in Sanger's lack of regard for the rights of the unborn. Sanger saw "choice" as a means of perfecting America through the destruction of millions of unborn children. Planned Parenthood perpetuates Sanger's legacy by presenting "choice" as a means of improving the lives of individuals and communities by eliminating unwanted, "inconvenient" children. Its clinics dispose of over 200,000 such children per year. The number of abortions provided by Planned Parenthood hit an all-time high in the 2005-2006 fiscal year.

This high body count, no doubt, is part of the reason Planned Parenthood wants to change its abortion-centered public image. Nevertheless, the organization will not quit providing abortions or discourage them. Rather, it is hoping to hide its assault on human life behind nice new amenities. Apparently it believes that comfortable furniture, soft lighting and convenient locations will help people forget what goes on behind the closed doors of the surgical ward.

The new "green" Planned Parenthood building is, perhaps, the most ironic element of its remodeling plan. The organization proudly proclaims its concern for the environment even as it destroys more human beings than any other group in America. Planned Parenthood is the most infamous organization in an industry which kills more than twice as many Americans per year as cancer. By "going green," Planned Parenthood is attempting to hide its true color, red—the color of the blood produced by its daily death toll.

Worthy of note is the fact that federal and state grants make up about a third of Planned Parenthood's funding. Another third is provided by private donors. By remolding its image, the merchants of death are, no doubt, hoping to increase the share that comes from both. Branding is, after all, key to the success of any fundraising campaign.

This is one makeover, however, that just won't work. Putting lipstick on a pig doesn't make you want to kiss it. No matter how hard Planned Parenthood tries to dress it up, abortion still kills children and hurts women.