Planned Parenthood’s Gift Certificates Cause Controversy

Not sure what to get one of your best girlfriends or a female in your family for a gift this holiday season? How about a gift certificate to Planned Parenthood in Indiana or Illinois, which can be redeemed for any of their women’s health services, including pap smears, birth control, STD tests, and, yes, abortions. The gift certificates can be bought in $25 increments and really would be a great gift for a woman who doesn’t have health insurance, as PP’s services are generally very affordable. Of course, it should have been expected that the religious right would go all koo-koo crazy about PP’s latest offering and when we linked to a College Candy story about this topic in yesterday’s Quickies, we didn’t understand how much larger the issue was.

Jim Sedlak, vice president of the American Life League and executive director of Stop Planned Parenthood, an anti-abortion group based in Stafford, Va., condemns the certificates as a continuation of Planned Parenthood’s “annual attacks on the Christian community at Christmastime.” Umm, really? Don’t take it so personally, Jimmy!

“Look,” he continued, “they [Planned Parenthood] could easily have said, ‘these certificates are not to be used for abortions.’ But they intentionally chose not to do that.” And why would they, sir? Planned Parenthood, like other pro-choice organizations and advocates, believes that abortions are a medical procedure, not murder or any other crime. Not allowing patients to use the certificates for all of the health care options that they offer would be in complete opposition to what they believe and have stood for since the beginning. [Chicago Tribune]