IRD: Clergy Praise Planned Parenthood as “God’s Work”

on July 31, 2015

Institute on Religion and Democracy Press Release
July 31, 2015
Contact: Jeff Walton office: 202-682-4131, cell: 202-413-5639, e-mail: jwalton@TheIRD.org

“Clergy and churches should defend the vulnerable, not excuse their destruction.”
-IRD President Mark Tooley

Washington, DC—A clergy group who advise the largest abortion provider in the United States have praised employees of the organization for “doing God’s work.”  (See Jeff Walton’s coverage.)

A statement released this week by the Planned Parenthood Clergy Advocacy Board attacks videos released by the California-based organization Center for Medical Progress (CMP). The videos, of which a fourth installment was released this week, reveal Planned Parenthood officials negotiating compensation for the potential sale of organs from bodies of aborted children.

Twelve states and the U.S. Congress have launched investigations into the practices of Planned Parenthood, potentially placing continued government funding of the organization in jeopardy. Planned Parenthood has annual revenue of $1.3 billion, of which over $500 million is provided by federal and state governments.

“People who work for Planned Parenthood give care and respect to those in need, doing God’s work,” the clergy statement reads. The statement does not mention abortion, instead portraying Planned Parenthood as an indispensable provider of “high-quality care” that “does the best of what religious traditions do.”

The Advocacy Board includes 14 clergy from the United Church of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Episcopal Church and American Baptist Churches as well as from Reformed Jewish and Unitarian Universalist congregations.  

IRD President Mark Tooley commented:

“These clergy outrageously claim God’s endorsement of Planned Parenthood but avoid mention of abortion or trafficking in baby parts, a seeming acknowledgement of the unsavory nature of Planned Parenthood’s grisly work.

“Every denomination these clergy represent unsurprisingly has rapidly declining numbers.

“Clergy and churches should defend the vulnerable, not excuse their destruction. By embracing Planned Parenthood, these clergy serve an amoral deity of their own design, not a loving and just Heavenly Father.”

www.TheIRD.org

  1. Comment by tiredofgarbage on July 31, 2015 at 5:24 pm

    srussell srussell@allsaints-pas.org, e-mail for Susan Russell, the vice chairman of the Planned Parent Clergy Advocacy Board.

  2. Comment by Jeff Walton on July 31, 2015 at 5:35 pm

    I’m going to allow this comment, as Russell’s e-mail is publicly listed on the All Saints web site. That being said, please be measured and respectful if you choose to e-mail her. We strongly disagree with her, but filling her inbox with invective won’t accomplish anything.

  3. Comment by tiredofgarbage on July 31, 2015 at 6:07 pm

    Understand, but just as those and their organizations who are opposed to homosexual marriage are publicly “shamed” – so should the supporters of these atrocities be.

  4. Comment by Jonathan Kuperberg on July 31, 2015 at 9:40 pm

    Amen. Susan Russell isn’t as bad as Ed Bacon, Fred Fenton, ubersensualist Jungian mystic Morton Kelsey, promiscuous porno writer ‘Amber Belldene’, or retired Bay Area extremist Robert W. ‘Sex Priest’ Cromey to name just five fellow California Episcopal flesh-embracers. But she is VERY dangerous spiritually, promulgating a nebulous ‘INCLUSIVE Gospel’ as she described it in several TV appearances where I’ve seen her debate more orthodox Christian leaders. She is an UNREPENTANT practicing lesbian who mangles Matthew 7 to condemn those who preach against sodomy.

    Next stop for the hard left intravenous poison Mainliners? Rewrite the Creed: “Jesus will come again to be non-judgmehtal about the living and the dead, affirming their expansive humanistic potential (except those living in their mother’s womb.)

  5. Comment by Namyriah on August 1, 2015 at 9:47 am

    Pretty ironic that she’s connected to “all saints.”

  6. Comment by ithakavi on August 1, 2015 at 3:17 pm

    “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.” (Mt. 7:15,16)

  7. Comment by Harold Smith on August 2, 2015 at 12:52 pm

    Very well said!!!

  8. Comment by samton909 on August 1, 2015 at 4:16 pm

    PP is doing God’s work?

    God kills babies and sells off their organs?

  9. Comment by Bill Russell on August 1, 2015 at 5:24 pm

    The Episcopal Church is no longer Christian. It is killing itself as well as killing babies. In the real world, it would be write-off. Over and done. A book should be written on how a church committed suicide.

  10. Comment by Knowlton on August 5, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    Agreed. I’m looking for my church–which is still biblical–to defect to the ACNA.

  11. Comment by teton99 on August 1, 2015 at 5:46 pm

    If P.P., is doing God’s work than the Nazi Concentrations camps must have been heaven?!

  12. Comment by Yankeegator on August 2, 2015 at 6:49 am

    Evil Protestants!!!

  13. Comment by Harold Smith on August 2, 2015 at 12:51 pm

    Clearly it is the BLIND LEADING THE BLIND!!!

  14. Comment by cestusdei on August 3, 2015 at 10:57 am

    So God’s work is killing babies and selling their parts…?

  15. Comment by AlphaGirl on August 6, 2015 at 5:33 pm

    Paul warned Satan, from the beginning, exists in the Church.
    He knows he must convince people there is no sin, only consensual choice.
    The woman pictured is one of his.
    Look at her!

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