SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, October 18, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Across the United States, pro-life organizations at more than 120 Planned Parenthood locations stood in united prayer to say the organization’s 100th anniversary is “something to mourn rather than celebrate.”
Margaret Sanger opened her first birth control clinic in October 1916, which later expanded into the American Birth Control League and was then renamed Planned Parenthood in 1942. Today, Planned Parenthood has become the nation's largest abortion business conglomerate.
Monica Miller of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Mark Harrington of Created Equal, and Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League served as national directors for the protest, coordinated the weekend of Planned Parenthood's 100th anniversary.
The organizers' goal was to have a pro-life presence at 100 Planned Parenthood sites, one for each year of the death-promoting organization's existence. They surpassed their goal with in excess of 120.
Scheidler told LifeSiteNews that the weekend protests were a resounding success. “One of the really strongest signs that the protests were extremely successful around the country came from a pro-choice website, which observed that our pro-life protests were 'astonishingly well organized,'” the Pro-Life Action League leader said.
“Reports are still coming in, and they are very positive,” Scheidler said. “There were a variety of protests from candlelight vigils to all-day-shift prayer vigils to Jericho Prayer Marches to quilt-making and mother support package production.”
Scheidler also told the American Family Association's One News Now that Planned Parenthood's well-oiled political machine can only be overcome by prayer. “You know, they have very powerful allies in government. They have an undying and faithful ally in the media and Hollywood. We cannot match Planned Parenthood dollar for dollar, yet we can confront them with something they have none of. They don't have the power of our Lord and prayer,” Scheidler said.
In Salt Lake City, “our own little Utah flair” was put on their pro-life protest. Deanna Holland of Pro-Life Utah called it a “service vigil.” Pro-lifers set up tables on public property near the local Planned Parenthood, and made care packages for pregnant women in need. They also collected baby clothes and diapers, and tied a quilt from one pregnant mother with cerebral palsy.
Holland said of the protest, “It's about helping these women, taking away the reasons why they feel they need to have an abortion.” Pro-Life Utah volunteers “will be outside of PP clinics, saying, hey, is there anything I can do for you? What's going on in your life that makes you feel like you need to go into PP? Is there some way I can help you?”
In Worcester, Massachusetts, 40 Days for Life sponsored a prayer vigil at the Planned Parenthood on Pleasant Street. Christians also fasted and worked in community outreach “to draw attention to the evil of abortion.”
Bishop Robert McManus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester led about 100 pro-lifers in prayer. The group also included Catholic nuns and students from Thomas Aquinas School. Organizer Sandra Kucharski explained, “We come to pray because that’s what we believe in, the power of prayer.”
In more than 120 locations where Planned Parenthood businesses operate, from Meridian, Idaho, to New York City, the same thing was happening with peaceful protests and prayers.
Sanger, the Planned Parenthood founder who promoted “The Negro Project” in 1939 —what Rev. Jesse Jackson called “Black Genocide”— set out to eliminate or minimize the minority population, or the “inferior races,” in the United States. She continues to be praised by the abortion behemoth and championed by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.