Julie McDonald Commentary: Planned Parenthood Gets Benefit of Double Standard

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My stepdaughter and I joined more than 170 people Saturday afternoon for the third annual Dessert Theatre to raise money for Pregnancy Possibilities Center in Centralia.

We laughed Saturday at the Seattle Taproot Theatre Company’s improv, plopped tickets into fishbowls for raffles, and nibbled delicious desserts from Dawn’s Delectables. But the highlight was visiting with people who share our belief in the sanctity of life.

“It’s such an honor to be involved with so many committed people for such a vital ministry,” said Kathy Lieske, board chairwoman.

The center, which also hosted 200 during an evening event, relies on donations from churches and individuals as well as fundraisers for its $170,000 annual budget. It served 1,700 women last year, providing free pregnancy tests, nurse consultations, parenting education, and prenatal counseling.

“Our community and partners are the champions behind Possibilities,” said Celeste Avy, executive director. “It is through their support that Possibilities makes resources and services available to women, unborn, and their families.”

Avy described the fundraiser, which it was hoped would raise $35,000, as “successful.”

Created in the early 1990s by pro-life Christians, Possibilities is a safe and compassionate place where vulnerable women who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant can step back, examine emotions, and learn about options.

“They need space to consider possibilities and options of parenting and adoption that would otherwise feel impossible on their own,” Avy said. “They need hope, and they need to have life celebrated—both for their unborn children and for themselves.”

She said the center hopes to provide testing for sexually transmitted diseases and ultrasounds so pregnant women can see their unborn babies. But that depends on both funding and training.

Nationally, volunteers at about 2,500 community pregnancy centers work hard each year to raise money to provide women with these services.

So why must privately funded pregnancy centers rely solely on the goodwill of supporters, but Planned Parenthood’s 59 independent local affiliates (operating about 700 clinics) receive $528 million annually in tax dollars? Especially when their services include chopping babies in utero and harvesting body parts? Private supporters already provide nearly $260 million, with $305 million coming from nongovernment sources and nearly $55 million from fees for services.

So why can’t private donors provide all of Planned Parenthood’s funding?



Supporters say the organization provides women’s health services. However, community health centers serve 21 million people compared with Planned Parenthood’s 2.7 million. They also provide far more services to women — 1.8 million pap tests (Planned Parenthood did 378,692) and 424,376 mammograms (Planned Parenthood did zero), according to statistics published by Democrats for Life of America. The allocation isn’t about women’s health; it’s about abortions. Planned Parenthood did 327,653; community health centers zero.

It amazes me how few Planned Parenthood supporters acknowledge that the organization’s founder, Margaret Sanger, embraced concepts of eugenics — improving humans by curtailing reproduction by those considered “unfit” — and launched “The Negro Project” to bring birth control to African-American communities. Her efforts worked: More blacks and Latinos were killed by abortions in 2011 than died of other causes.

And we support this organization with tax dollars? Why? 

Santa Train

Tickets for the Chehalis-Centralia Steam Train’s annual Polar Express — more than 2,100 — sold out within 36 hours after they were posted for sale Oct. 1.

“Couldn’t believe it,” said Wanda Thompson, secretary and treasurer. “This is the first time in the six years we have hosted the Polar Express they have sold this fast. Unfortunately, we don’t have any more coaches we can add on.”

Twenty-one Polar Express and eight Santa Steam Trains run Thanksgiving weekend and the first three weekends of December.

People already have purchased 700 Santa Steam Train tickets. Only about 100 remained Monday morning at steamtrainride.com.

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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.