News

Image

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 1, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “Every day, 915 babies are killed by Planned Parenthood. Every day, 915 mothers are diminished at Planned Parenthood clinics,” said Christian Defense Coalition Director Patrick Mahoney, as he stood in front of 915 pink crosses representing each baby killed – and each mother harmed – by abortion.

The event was a joint press conference on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building with Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins to “expose the abortion trifecta”: Planned Parenthood, ObamaCare, and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The nexus of federal funding of health care and aiding the nation's largest abortion provider runs through the new government insurance program – but it also predates it.

Image

Mahoney spoke for several minutes, addressing how Planned Parenthood receives more than $500 million annually from the federal government, mostly through “family planning” grants, and makes $130 million annually from its own abortion services.

In some states, Medicaid funds abortion, and under the Affordable Care Act (known as ObamaCare), consumers often do not know whether the insurance plan they are buying covers abortion until they purchase it.

Mahoney said, despite the abortion giant's claims that it is more than an abortion provider, it clearly has a specialty. For every adoption that goes through Planned Parenthood, it performs 142 abortions, he noted.

Mahoney said America should “embrace human rights and justice for all,” and called for Planned Parenthood to be defunded.

He reminded the attendees that the Affordable Care Act’s rollout includes Community Essential Healthcare Providers, which will increase the number of federal dollars going to Planned Parenthood.

He was followed to the podium by SFLA's Kristan Hawkins.

Hawkins, who is 35 weeks pregnant, spoke shortly about how HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is “in bed” with Planned Parenthood, citing how abortions will be funded in the Affordable Care Act beginning on January 1, when the exchanges formally launch.

She also denounced how HHS issued its infamous contraception/abortifacient/sterilization mandate, which came from a HHS regulation describing pregnancy as “a preventable disease.”

Despite its mainstream message, the event almost never happened.

During his comments, Rev. Mahoney said his organization was originally denied a permit for Thursday’s event, and the fight went all the way up to the General Counsel and Architect of the Capitol. Later, he told LifeSiteNews.com that the stated reason was that 915 crosses stuck in the Capitol grounds would cause property damage. However, Mahoney’s research found precedent – the Labyrinth for Peace held an event in 2000 – and eventually the Capitol officials acquiesced.

Mahoney told LifeSiteNews the permit restricted objects to being one inch in diameter or less and no more than nine inches in the ground.

Hawkins told Media Research Center reporter and LifeSiteNews.com blogger Katie Yoder that once the exchanges go live, Planned Parenthood’s federal dollars would rise dramatically.

Hawkins subsequently told LifeSiteNews this would take place because of the “worthless” Executive Order President signed in March 2010, which the president falsely claimed would prevent abortion funding except in the cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother.

She said this is why Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ, has introduced H.R. 7, “The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” to codify the Hyde Amendment – which prevents federal funding of abortions except in the cases listed above – in ObamaCare.

Students for Life and Christian Defense Coalition are two of many pro-life groups that prioritize ending federal dollars for Planned Parenthood, the world’s largest abortion provider.

The issue of abortion funding has had a higher profile in recent years due to funding included in the Affordable Care Act.

The law has an Executive Order attached to it that ostensibly prevents abortion funding consistent with the Hyde Amendment, but only months after the law’s passage at least three states saw Affordable Care Act funding used for abortions. Pro-life organizations created an uproar that stopped that effort, but the HHS mandate has created more problems for the Obama administration.