Opinion
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February 12, 2019 (STOPP International) — Here it comes, ready or not. The last year of the second decade of the 21st century is about to start. What kind of year will it be for Planned Parenthood and the culture of death in the United States?

From its perspectives, Planned Parenthood is betting it will be a positive year. It controls activities in the House of Representatives; it gained ground in many states due to the mid-term elections; it believes it can survive any negative publicity with PR spin. So what if the New York Times wrote about its terrible treatment of pregnant employees — it's not PP's fault if the government doesn't require family leave!

Planned Parenthood also believes it can withstand any attempt to take away its taxpayer money. The fact is that every president since Lyndon Johnson has given Planned Parenthood more money in their last year in office than he did in his first year. There have been some burps through the decades where in one or two years Planned Parenthood might have seen a slight decrease, but the fact is, like Old Man River, Planned Parenthood just keeps rolling along, from a financial standpoint.

After 35 years in this fight, I've come to the conclusion that Planned Parenthood will not be stopped by the lack of money. But, it has been, and can be, stopped by the combination of prayer and action.

Back in 2009, the Lord led us to create a new prayer campaign against Planned Parenthood. The campaign was based on a very successful effort to close down 19 Planned Parenthood locations in the Texas panhandle over a 12-year period.

Up until 2009, we and other pro-life organizations had been working hard to close down Planned Parenthood facilities and reduce its customer base. Between 1995 and 2008, we had seen the number of PP locations go from 938 to 813 — an average of 9.6 net closings of clinics a year. However, despite the clinic closings, the number of unique customers at PP rose from 2.3 million to 3.0 million. We understood that something different had to be done.

In 2009, we developed a campaign against Planned Parenthood based on prayer and a peaceful presence at its facilities. The campaign was called Bringing Jesus to Planned Parenthood through Mary. The basis of the campaign was to bring images of Jesus and of His mother, Mary, in front of Planned Parenthood facilities and to pray. The primary prayer was the rosary, but non-Catholics were encouraged to say other Christian prayers. Pro-lifers across the country embraced this campaign and the practice of bringing the images to Planned Parenthood spread widely.

From 2009 through 2016, the results were amazing. Planned Parenthood locations went from 813 to 626 — an average of 26.7 net closings of clinics a year! Just as importantly, the number of unique customers at Planned Parenthood fell from 3.0 million to 2.4 million! Planned Parenthood was losing everywhere. Oh, yes, its taxpayer money increased and its assets grew, but it was losing where it counted the most — in local communities among the people.

After the 2016 elections, we saw a change in the focus of the pro-life movement. From our perspective, much more time and effort was given to legislation, politics, and taxpayer funding. The prayer aspect and, specifically, the successful Bringing Jesus to Planned Parenthood through Mary campaign, while still being practiced in many places, began to take a back seat. As a result, whereas 2017 saw a net closing of 29 PP locations, we saw only eight net closings in 2018. More importantly, Planned Parenthood has seemingly stopped the flow of exiting customers — reporting 2.4 million in each of the last three years. 

The conclusion is obvious. We are getting away from what God has shown us works and we are paying the price. We mustn't allow this to continue.

As we enter 2019, American Life League is going to launch a number of efforts against Planned Parenthood. They will all be rooted in prayer and peaceful action. It is that combination that has worked in the past against Planned Parenthood, and we know it will work again.

To begin with, we will be re-emphasizing our Bringing Jesus to Planned Parenthood through Mary Campaign. To make that happen, we have reprinted the two main prayers of the campaign. The first is a dedication of the effort to Our Blessed Mother; the second is a prayer to be said by each individual every time you are in front of a Planned Parenthood location. These prayers are also contained on a prayer card we distribute. If you go to this page, you can either print out the card for your use, or order quantities. Either way, when we bring the focus back to Jesus and Mary, we will defeat Planned Parenthood.

Jim Sedlak is vice-president of American Life League, founder of STOPP International, and host of a weekly talk show on the Radio Maria Network. He has been successfully fighting Planned Parenthood since 1985.

Published with permission from STOPP International.