Press release from the Allen County Right to Life:
Indiana State Senator Marlin Stutzman (R-Howe) will comment on legislation to defund Planned Parenthood in Indiana. US 3rd District Congressman Mark Souder will comment on the impact of health care reform on life issues. He will also discuss defunding Planned Parenthood at the Federal Level. Keynote Speaker Abby Johnson recently left her position as director of a Planned Parenthood abortion facility, and she will comment on the abortion industry from the inside. The press conference will be held in the Scottish Rite Center lobby at 11:30 a.m., January 30, prior to the 36th Annual March for Life.
The state of Indiana has been subsidizing Planned Parenthood of Greater Indiana (PPGI) and its affiliates with taxpayer dollars for many years through state tax dollars, grants, and the awarding of contracts using state-controlled federal funds. According to disbursement records from the Indiana State Auditor’s office, PPGI received over $1.8 million in state-directed funding in 2008 alone. This funding continues despite ongoing concerns over whether PPGI is properly reporting child sexual abuse, as required by state law, when customers under the age of 14 evidence sexual activity. This funding continues during a time in which Indiana and the federal government is experiencing revenue shortfalls that are causing deep budget cuts to such vital services as K-12 education and all of our state universities. This funding continues even though PPGI consistently objects to and blocks common sense legislation intended to improve patient safety. And this funding supports PPGI’s direct involvement in doing over 5,000 surgical and chemical abortions each year in Indiana that is morally objectionable to Hoosier taxpayers in addition to being the largest abortion provider in the United States. Even though Senate Bill 198 (co-authored by Senator Stutzman) to defund Planned Parenthood in Indiana died this year, this issue will continue to be investigated. Concerned state and federal elected officials and voters will work to eliminate these subsidies.
Press conference participants will also address area pro-life advocates attending the March for Life rally beginning at 12:00 noon at the Scottish Rite Center. Over 1,500 area residents are expected to attend the rally and march, which is the largest event in Indiana marking the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on January 22, 1973.
After the rally, March for Life advocates will march through downtown Fort Wayne and gather at the Federal Building on Harrison Street to hear women and men from the Silent No More Awareness Campaign speak about the harmful physical and emotional consequences they suffered as a result of their abortion decisions. For more information about Silent No More, visit their website at www.silentnomoreawareness.org.
About Allen County Right to Life
The members of Allen County Right to Life are dedicated to organizing, educating and representing pro-life issues in Allen County. As the largest pro-life advocacy group in Northern Indiana, we are united to affirm that abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia are negative, violent and primitive responses to complex social problems that demand genuine compassion and rational, responsible thinking. Furthermore, we denounce fetal stem-cell research and human cloning because they involve the willful destruction of human life. We reject the notion that society may destroy innocent life to solve any problem.
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