Two very surprising revelations came from Planned Parenthood this week. The first being that Planned Parenthood actually has an Advocacy board of Clergy members. The second and more astounding surprise was that the advocacy board of religious leaders is defending the organization from criticism over the Center For Medical Progress (CMP) videos exposing the mutilation and sale of baby parts by Planned Parenthood.
According to the statement originally put up on the Planned Parenthood website and then removed (a cached version can be seen here) The Clergy Advocacy Board considers the CMP videos harassment.
“As faith leaders committed to justice, honesty, and liberty, we are troubled by the decades-long campaign of harassment against Planned Parenthood and those they serve. Our faiths demand care for those marginalized by poverty and other oppressions. Faith leaders have supported Planned Parenthood for nearly 100 years because of our shared goals: every person — regardless of income, race, or religion — deserves access to safe, affordable, high-quality health care.
“Planned Parenthood provides professional, non-judgmental, high-quality care to people, individuals, and families in our congregations, some of whom have few health care options. Planned Parenthood does the best of what religious traditions do: care, no matter what.
“Planned Parenthood offers the opportunity for women to choose to donate fetal tissue for research purposes. Research using fetal tissue saves hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide every year.
While not theologian (nor do I play one on TV) it would be hard for the Clergy Advocacy Board to find support in their scriptures that caring, "no matter what" includes tearing apart the corpses of fetuses. And while Judaism, the faith I am most familiar with allows for the donation of organs and tissue to save lives, it strictly forbids doing it in a manner that desecrates and disrespects the body of the dead.
“The fact that the attacking organizations use fraudulent and extreme tactics to spread false allegations about Planned Parenthood’s role in tissue donation is theologically and morally reprehensible. The scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam strongly and repeatedly condemn dishonesty and hate. Planned Parenthood facilitates tissue donation for those who choose it, knowing that it fulfills the donor's wish and contributes to the advancement of medical research. We are grateful to everyone who chooses to donate and fully respectful of all who do not.
The Clergy Board is ignoring the fact that the Center for Medical Progress have posted the non cut versions of their tapes to prove there is nothing fraudulent about their claims, and while the "scriptures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam strongly and repeatedly condemn dishonesty and hate," if they were being honest, these members of the clergy would be praising the CMP videos precisely because they expose the dishonestly and hate of Planned Parenthood.
“Rather than respect religious liberty and individual conscience, some seek to impose their values and work obsessively to limit access to health care on individuals despite the fact that denial of health care may have a tremendous impact on their families. This agenda has included restricting access to evidence-based sex education and contraceptives and imposing a view of sexuality that most Americans do not hold.
A straw dog, not one of the CMP videos, or the accompanying press releases talk about anything other than Planned Parenthood's abortion services or their dismemberment of aborted fetuses.
“Planned Parenthood employees and volunteers, as well as those at other organizations and providers, endure harassment, fraud, and violence when they provide and protect access to safe health care. Our religious traditions call us to offer compassion, not judgment. People who work for Planned Parenthood give care and respect to those in need, doing God’s work. For this we are grateful.”
The teachings of most faiths would agree that "give[ing] care and respect to those in need' is "doing God’s work." But most of those faiths would disagree that abortion is "doing God's work," and even a smaller number of them would agree that God would approve of dismembering their bodies in a public spectacle once they are removed from their mothers uterus and executed via crushing them in a way which protects their most highly prized organs.
The below is a list of the members of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy panel.
