May 14, 2012 (TexLife.org) – Some Ft. Worth residents believe that this is what happens when Planned Parenthood can’t get their way in Dallas. Others think the location was chosen for other reasons. No matter the strategy, one thing is certain: Planned Parenthood is building a late-term abortion clinic in Ft. Worth – next to a nationally recognized adoption agency.
It began with a simple transaction.
Cerine Management, LLC, formed in 2009, bought a parcel of land in southwest Ft. Worth. The company’s records were vague. Elizabeth Solender of Solender Hall Commercial Real Estate, a broker representing Cerine, purchased land from a Ft. Worth man named Dan McDonald, who was told it would be used for an ambulatory surgical center. Solender, an influential League of Women Voters type known among North Texas power politics players and non-profit feminists, specializes in transferring real estate from companies to non-profits.
Rumors began to spread around the Ft. Worth area when a former Planned Parenthood executive converted to Christianity in Denison and told her pastor that Planned Parenthood was planning something horrible in Ft. Worth. Pastors, like the rest of us, talk. Her pastor told another pastor, Dr. Michael Dean of Travis Avenue Baptist Church, in the fall of 2011.
Not yet knowing what Planned Parenthood had up their sleeve, or where their big idea might land, Dean contacted The Edna Gladney Center, and together they formed the Life Advisory Team to explore the sinister possibility of Planned Parenthood making inroads in southwest Ft. Worth. Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood was too secretive. Before any action was taken, ground was broken.
The general contractor on the 19,377-square-foot, two-story job is The DeMoss Co. With long-term ties to Ft. Worth, Jim DeMoss also has ties to Planned Parenthood. His wife Margaret’s name was associated with the 2010 annual Planned Parenthood budget report; she was a fundraiser for their $21-million North Texas campaign, and the Ft. Worth co-chair.
Sources say DeMoss failed to inform his employees what kind of facility they were building. When they found out, he allowed Planned Parenthood to warn them of violent extremists, angry protesters, and the threat of bodily harm, leaving them shaken but committed to staying on the job.
DeMoss has reportedly built many churches in Ft. Worth and surrounding areas for about fifteen years, many of which were featured on his website, including Travis Avenue Baptist. At last look they had been removed from the page, some say at the churches’ request.
Texans for Life has also been told that there was no indication anywhere on the plans filed with the municipality that the end result would be a Planned Parenthood center – and not just a center, but an ambulatory surgery, where late-term abortions can be committed next door to The Edna Gladney Center, a well-known adoption agency. Planned Parenthood has denied any deception and claimed that they are forced to operate in secret for fear of violent activism. They have also, according to peaceful boycott members and protesters, installed an alarm triggered to go off if anyone gets too near the curb (for prayer, parking, etc.); the alarm blasts directly into the dormitory wing of the Gladney adoption center, where expectant mothers are housed.
It wasn’t until he was given the address of the new Planned Parenthood site that Tim Pulliam of Pulliam Concrete realized that he was on that very job, and scheduled to pour in the morning. He immediately pulled his men and walked away, followed by Tri-Dal, Phillips Electric (saying, “We’d rather walk than have anything to do with a job like that”), and other subcontractors. Rone Engineers, founded and run by a Catholic, will do no additional work on the site.
While many, like Pulliam, got involved against their will and want nothing to do with publicity, others are happy to be involved, showing up daily to pray and protest. Pro-life activist Chris Danze is leading the boycott, with help from Texans for Life Coalition and other organizations. A protester holding a sign bearing the face of an aborted fetus last Wednesday reported that a worker leaving the site pointed to it and asked, “Is that what we’re building?” When she replied that it was, he said, “I’m done; I’m not coming back. I’m pro-life, so I won’t be working this job anymore.”
Abortions up to 24 weeks’ gestation will be committed at this surgical center once it is completed. Meanwhile, TLC and all of pro-life North Texas ask for your support. If enough outrage and concern are expressed to the DeMoss Co. and whoever steps up to replace them, we can keep this abomination from opening its doors in our community. Call 817-920-9990 to respectfully express your opinion to the DeMoss Co., or write to them at 4205 Stadium Dr. #100, Ft. Worth, TX, 76133.
This article first appeared at TexLife.org and is published with permission.