The Irrationality Of The “Pro-Life” Movement’s Assault On Planned Parenthood

By Yashwanth Manjunath

The “pro-life” movement and the Republican Party have been openly trying to destroy Planned Parenthood for a long time now. The latest assault comes from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, which recently buckled to political pressure from “pro-life” groups and cut off hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money to Planned Parenthood.

This controversial decision comes less than a year after the Komen foundation hired a new senior vice president of public policy, Karen Handel (pictured). Handel is a life-long Republican, a strong supporter of Sarah Palin, and ran a staunchly “pro-life” campaign in her failed 2010 gubernatorial bid in Georgia. As for what Handel thinks of Planned Parenthood, she made her feelings quite clear in this tweet that was later deleted:

Just like a pro-abortion group to turn a cancer orgs decision decision into a political bomb to throw. Cry me a freaking river.

First, Planned Parenthood used the money from the Komen foundation to pay for breast exams, not abortions, which makes Handel’s position particularly perplexing. If she, and all of the groups protesting Planned Parenthood, really were “pro-life,” why the hell do they want to reduce access to cancer screenings for low-income women?

Second, identifying Planned Parenthood as nothing more than a pro-abortion group is ridiculous when only 3% of their activities constitute abortion services, while 16% of their patient services are cancer screening and prevention.

Finally, Handel and her fellow “pro-life” advocates continually justify their position based on their religious beliefs, even though there is not a single passage in the Bible that says women do not have the right to terminate their pregnancy early. In fact, not only does nothing in the Bible condemn abortion,  but also poison-induced abortion is actually encouraged as a tool for husbands to use to determine if their wives cheated on them.

This latest bit of craven irrationality from the so-called “pro-life” movement begs the question: are these people really “pro-life” or are they simply anti-women?

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