Catholics Show Sweet Support for Planned Parenthood

Women’s health clinics across the country will again be harassed by the antichoice movement this weekend. In response, Catholics organized to remind clinic staff that we stand with Planned Parenthood and support the important work they do. Today, Catholics for Choice delivered cakes and messages of goodwill to women’s clinics on behalf of Catholic supporters, showing that only a small minority of Catholics agree with the extremist voices of the bishops on the question of abortion.

On Saturday, antiabortion groups across the country will harass and intimidate women seeking care at Planned Parenthood affiliates. The protests are trying to drum up attention for a video smear campaign that is being used in attempts to strip the group of federal and state funds and deny women access to reproductive healthcare services.

“It is clear that Catholics support Planned Parenthood and reject the extremist rhetoric and dirty, underhanded tactics of the antiabortion lobby,” said Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice. “We wanted clinic workers, doctors and nurses to know that we stand with Planned Parenthood and the women they care for.

“The US bishops’ own opinion survey showed that only a paltry 11 percent of Americans believe abortion should be illegal,” continued O’Brien. “Catholics for Choice is mobilizing its nearly 35,000 social media supporters to stand up to the bullying tactics, including conservative politicians in five states trying to defund Planned Parenthood at the state level and calls for increased regulation and legislative investigations in several others.

“The cakes and the messages to clinic staff are important. We need to organize citizens of all faith and no faith to remind our elected officials that these attempts to defund Planned Parenthood will only hurt poor folks in our communities.

“With this campaign, we are drawing a line in the sand. We are standing on the side of reason and with the poor. We are asking our elected officials to join us and stand with Planned Parenthood.”

###