MANASSAS, VA, August 31, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) recently updated a previous report on Catholic colleges with relationships to Planned Parenthood, revealing that a shocking number of Catholic institutions are still affiliated with the nation's largest abortion provider.
Prompted by the unfolding Planned Parenthood baby body part trafficking scandal, CNS's new report found 63 new or continued relationships with the abortion giant or its representatives since CNS's 2011 report, when more than 150 cases were found of Catholic colleges with ties to Planned Parenthood.
“Every one of the relationships that we expose in this report ought to appall any Catholic who values human life and relies on Catholic educators to teach in complete fidelity to the Catholic faith,” the CNS report stated. “The scandal is only greater because of the recent revelations of the abhorrent practices at Planned Parenthood.”
These connections consist of referrals to Planned Parenthood for “health” services, internships and fellowships with Planned Parenthood, employees' past work with Planned Parenthood, and other ties.
The new report, titled “A More Scandalous Relationship: Catholic Colleges and Planned Parenthood,” shows a high concentration of Jesuit colleges.
CNS was able to make the discoveries in the report entirely through online evidence.
“What is publicized on the Internet often indicates more extensive concerns hidden from public view,” CNS said when it released the first report and repeated again when publishing the 2015 update, “so while the information contained in this report is shocking and scandalous, it is only based on a rudimentary search of college websites and likely does not capture all ties to Planned Parenthood at Catholic colleges and universities.”
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CNS investigators said they have sufficient cause to assume that continuing associations with the nation's largest abortion chain have been scrubbed from numerous Catholic college websites since the first report in 2011.
A lot of colleges reacted to that report by deleting, moving, or hiding the online proof of a Planned Parenthood relationship, driving CNS to update the report a month later that year.
Several colleges were found to be referring Catholic students to Planned Parenthood for “medical services.”
In one case, Mount Mercy University in Iowa's chart of “Sexual Health Resources” identifies and links to Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Cedar Rapids as a resource for “Pregnancy/STI Testing,” “HIV/AIDS Resources,” “Health Education,” “Women and Children's Services,” “Sexual Health Advocacy,” and “LGBT Resources.”
In another example, DePaul University incoming chairman of health sciences Craig Klugman endorsed the “services” of the Planned Parenthood clinic where his mother once worked.
Even worse, he also publicly defended Planned Parenthood's distribution of aborted fetal parts as “a legal and (debatably) ethical enterprise” with “the intent of saving lives and improving the quality of life.”
Another instance showed the Boston College Law School website with the booklet “Consent to Medical Treatment by Minors in Massachusetts: A Guide for Practitioners,” a publication of the school's Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project, advising doctors on minors' “legal rights” to obtain “family planning services” and abortions, and offering a list of “family planning” providers in Massachusetts.
Further, in October 2012, the Seattle University School of Law hosted “reproductive justice roundtables,” with speakers that included a Planned Parenthood representative, to “discuss the Affordable Care Act and what it means for students and their reproductive health.”
In the “Human Sexuality” course at the College of Saint Rose (NY), the report said, “Planned Parenthood will visit class and talk about safety and equipment for protection. Explicit pictures will be used and scientific terms will be used to refer to sexual parts and acts.”
“The mission of Planned Parenthood has nothing in common with the values of the Catholic Church,” CNS stated in regard to its findings, “and no Catholic college should be collaborating with Planned Parenthood or its representatives on any matter – most especially those related to sexuality or the education of young adults.”
Catholic colleges should be accountable to Catholic teaching in all areas of institutional life, the Catholic education advocacy group said, and urged Catholic educators to “end any association with Planned Parenthood and to teach respect for all human life.”
The full Cardinal Newman Society report can be found here.
