November 30, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A petition launched last month to defund Planned Parenthood has just hit its first milestone – 10,000 signatures.
The petition is being sponsored by LifeSiteNews.com, and has an ultimate goal of 100,000 signatures.
“We’re thrilled to have reached such a high number of signatures in just over a month,” said LSN editor-in-chief John-Henry Westen.
“Defunding Planned Parenthood is at the top of every pro-lifer’s wishlist, and we believe that this petition could go a long way to convincing legislators to take up this cause.”
Once the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, LifeSiteNews.com intends to present it to U.S. legislators in the House and the Senate.
“What we need more than anything,” Westen continued, “is for concerned pro-lifers to ‘share’ this petition in any way they can – through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and Google+.”
The website set up for the petition, defundpp.net, provides “share” tools for all the major social networking site.
To share the petition to defund Planned Parenthood on Facebook, click “recommend” now.
2011 has been a major year in the effort to stop hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds from going towards Planned Parenthood each year.
Just recently, in a Thanksgiving note, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards thanked supporters for standing with the organization during what she labeled, “the most difficult year in our history.”
The concerted effort to defund Planned Parenthood began early this year, when the pro-life organization Live Action released several devastating undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood employees aiding sex traffickers and covering up the sexual abuse of minors.
Then, in February, an historic amendment to defund Planned Parenthood passed overwhelmingly in the U.S. House, but was ultimately defeated in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
But after Washington failed to defund Planned Parenthood, state legislatures immediately took the battle into their own hands on their own turf.
According to the SBA List State by State Scoreboard, Planned Parenthood has lost over $61 million from 9 states after they cut tax-based funding to the abortion giant. The states include Florida, Indiana, Kansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
“Now isn’t the time to let up,” said Westen, “but to push forward towards the goal – to make sure that Planned Parenthood doesn’t receive a dime of our money to continue its business of killing innocent unborn children.
“Please let your friends and family know about our petition, and let’s make this goal a reality.”