on the street where you live

Ironies abound in life. Take the street on which my town's local Planned Parenthood sits. The abortion clinic--a dingy, grey, aged monument for the sanctioned killing of babies and the maiming of women--shares a wall with...

... a day care center.

Behind the joined buildings, the day care center has a little fenced in yard and playground, so that its pint-sized attendees can run and frolic in the shadow of the building where, just feet away, children a few years their junior are dismembered in utero.

I once had the privilege of attending a vigil led by the heroic former-abortion-clinic-manager-turned-pro-life-advocate Abby Johnson outside that very Planned Parenthood. The event had been highly publicized, and she drew a big crowd to the abortion clinic on a cold October morning.

I stood next to a woman who confided that she had never been to a vigil such as the one held that day. Nor had she stood and prayed outside of any abortion clinic before. "Actually," she said, "I didn't even know we had a Planned Parenthood in this city."

My mouth dropped. Granted, this woman lived a few miles away, but who wouldn't know whether or not one's town boasted an abortion mill? Does it have to move in next door for folks to notice?

A 2013 poll conducted by the National Right to Life Committee found that 55% of American's don't know that Planned Parenthood commits abortions. That number blows me over. The largest abortion provider in America skates by on the pretenses of being a "mainstream healthcare provider." And for more than half of this country, that's what they know and believe.

It's likely that anyone reading this blog post is not part of that 55% mentioned above. But the tentacles of Planned Parenthood stretch far and deep into American culture, into businesses and organizations, into politicians and non-profits, into categories never polled nor likely to be polled.

Take, for instance, the Girl Scouts and their eponymous cookies. Sweet little girls selling boxes of their troop's treats can be found every February at your local grocery store, hardware store, even at your front door.

But if only 55% of Americans know Planned Parenthood commits abortions, then a great deal less have probably seen the last few months of news regarding the Girl Scout's ties (at both regional and national levels) to fervently pro-abortion politicians and Planned Parenthood itself:

- The new national spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts, Kelly Parisi, is the former spokeswoman for a pro-abortion organization — one founded by Gloria Steinem. 

- The Girl Scouts have been criticized for their involvement in the May, 2013 Women Deliver Conference, an international event that included “safe and legal abortion” among its overarching themes. It documents its role in the planning and facilitating of the December, 2012 Bali Global Youth Forum and the outcome declaration, which demands youth access to abortion. 

- The ties between the two groups have been questioned ever since former Girl Scouts CEO Kathy Cloninger admitted on NBC’s The Today Show: “We partner with many organizations. We have relationships with…Planned Parenthood organizations across the country.” See the video here. 

- In a national survey, 17 Girl Scouts councils admit to partnering with Planned Parenthood; many other councils refuse to answer the survey question. Of the 315 Girl Scout councils in the U.S., 17 councils reported having a relationship with Planned Parenthood and its affiliates, and 49 reported they do not. The other 249 refused to disclose any relationship. 

- In 2010-2011 Girls Scouts in New York partnered with Planned Parenthood for a sex-ed program, “Real Life. Real Talk.” The program website touts their partners: “Real Life. Real Talk. is proud to count the following organizations, faith communities and companies as partners: …Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways.” 

- For fourteen years, the Girls Scouts in Waco, TX co-sponsored a sex ed conference with Planned Parenthood. “It’s Perfectly Normal” a book written by a Planned Parenthood executive was  given to all children in attendance says abortion can be “a positive experience.” And in January 2012, Girl Scouts employee Renise Rodriguez wore a “Pray to End Abortion” t-shirt during off-duty visit to her Tucson Girl Scout office and was ordered to her to turn the shirt inside out or leave. 

- In 2012, the Girl Scouts joined with Planned Parenthood to head a UN conference and LifeNews reported on the investigation the Catholic Church is undertaking into the ties between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups.

As might be assumed, I don't buy Girl Scout cookies, and I've tried to spread the word. It's a little late now, writing this in the middle of March, but I'm still seeing folks savoring Samoas and Tagalongs on my various social media feeds.

Planned Parenthood's evil work (of aborting children, lying to mothers, covering for child rapists and making a buck off it all) isn't abated when it reaches outside clinic walls--it only becomes that much more insidious. 

If a person hasn't heard that the Girl Scouts are in cahoots with abortion advocates, it's not that person's fault. It's not their fault for not knowing Planned Parenthood commits abortions, for not knowing there's a Planned Parenthood just down the street.

It's mine. It's my fault. If I have the knowledge, it's dependent on me (and everyone who knows the truth) to share it.

Wherever it is, evil's all the same. It can be 50 miles away or show up on your very street. But it's up to each of us to call it what it is, and stop the silence.