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Don't give tax money to Planned Parenthood

By Scott Tibbs, April 30, 2004

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Scott Tibbs" <tibbs1973@hotmail.com>
To: <volans@bloomington.in.gov>, <sabbaghd@bloomington.in.gov>, <rollod@bloomington.in.gov>, <diekhofm@bloomington.in.gov>, <banachj@bloomington.in.gov>, <sturbauc@bloomington.in.gov>, <ruffa@bloomington.in.gov>, <mayert@bloomington.in.gov>, <gaalc@bloomington.in.gov>
CC: <tibbs1973@hotmail.com>
Subject: No to tax money for Planned Parenthood
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 20:18:54 -0500

To the members of the Bloomington City Council:

It has come to my attention that Planned Parenthood has requested that city government give it a grant of over $2900 from the John Hopkins social services fund. I have encouraged you each year for the last five years to deny taxpayer funding to Bloomington's Planned Parenthood branch, which operates an abortion clinic on South College, just a few blocks from City Hall.

I understand that PP is requesting these funds for a program to help screen women for cervical cancer. I concede that Planned Parenthood is doing a public service by offering these cancer screenings. As a cancer survivor myself, I am quite aware of how important early detection of this disease is.

My question to you, though, is this: would you give the tobacco companies taxpayer money so that a clinic run by them could screen for early detection of lung cancer? I assume you would not, because cigarettes are the leading cause of lung cancer in America. You are, however, doing something very similar by giving tax money to Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood actively promotes teen sex, and studies have shown that early sexual activity among girls contributes to the development of cervical cancer. According to an article in Vibrant Life magazine by Elaine W. Trei, "Earlier sexual activity (before age 16) significantly increases the risk of cervical cancer. This risk rapidly decreases to nearly zero if the woman waits until she is 20 years old (see Table 1) to initiate sexual activity."

I would point you to a book titled "It's Perfectly Normal", which has been called "outstanding" by Planned Parenthood on its Web site. The book is a "sex manual" for children, with graphic line drawings and descriptions of masturbation, same-sex intimacy and other sexual practices. I checked out the book at the Monroe County Public Library and was appalled by the graphic nature of the book. Worse yet, Planned Parenthood distributes the book (which is basically pornography) to children as young as ten years old.

I am disturbed that this pornographic literature is readily available in our public library, funded by tax dollars, for any child of any age to check out.

Four years ago, you gave Planned Parenthood $2000 for "teen education". Representatives from IU Students for Life attended the meeting and requested that PP be denied these funds, expressing concern that Planned Parenthood would use the money to advance an agenda of promiscuity and early sexual activity. It turns out that the predictions were correct. I attended a meeting at the Monroe County Public Library in 2002 where Planned Parenthood was helping teens prepare to have sexual relations on prom night. Kelly McBride, Sexuality Educator for Planned Parenthood informed me at that meeting that the $2000 you gave them was used to train PP's "peer educators", who go into the local schools to spread Planned Parenthood's agenda.

Planned Parenthood advertised at that meeting that they would be distributing condoms for free on prom night at their facility on South College. What PP declined to mention is that condoms are not all that effective against the human papilloma virus, which (along with early sexual intercourse) has been linked to cervical cancer.

Planned Parenthood benefits from increased sexual activity not only because of their abortion business, but also because of the profits they generate from the sale of birth control. STOPP International estimates that in 1997/98, Planned Parenthood made a profit of $60 million from the sale of birth control.

The message is clear: If it were not for the likes of Planned Parenthood, there would be less cervical cancer because there would be less sexual activity among teens.

Planned Parenthood's national arm, with close to $700 million in revenue in 2001/2002, has more than enough money to meet the needs of its local branch. I urge you not to continue to fund Planned Parenthood, and instead to distribute the funds to more deserving organizations.

Scott Tibbs
tibbs1973@hotmail.com