Contact Rep. Larry Pittman, express your appreciation
By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League
CONCORD — A state representative who refused to mince words when asked not to cut funding for Planned Parenthood is under fire from abortion supporters who are calling his response “unprofessional.”
“Professionalism is a secondary concern to opposing and exposing evil,” Rep. Larry Pittman (R-Cabarrus) told the Independent Tribune which first published an article about his e-mail exchange with an unnamed Planned Parenthood supporter. She was offended when the lawmaker called the nation’s largest abortion provider “a murderous organization” that “deals out nothing but deception, death, personal devastation, and moral degradation.”
Pittman further told the media that significant profits of Planned Parenthood come from abortion and that to say that the organization would try to reduce the incidence of abortion is “like saying a baker would go around trying to get people to stop eating bread.”
The GOP-led General Assembly nixed taxpayer funding of the abortion provider by overriding the Governor’s veto of the state budget bill, which includes a provision prohibiting the state Department of Health and Human Services from contracting with private providers of family planning services. Otherwise, $343,000 would have gone to Planned Parenthood this budget cycle.
“Representative Pittman and other lawmakers who stand for life have never made a secret of their distaste for Planned Parenthood,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “The fact that some people are offended by strong words should never dissuade us from defending life as vehemently as possible. Abortion is murder, so why is it surprising when someone refers to the organization that performed more than 300,000 abortions in America last year as ‘murderous’?”
Although Planned Parenthood frequently touts its claim that abortions represent only about 3 percent of its services, in truth 12 percent of its patients (1 of 8 women who walk through the door) receive abortions, and the number of these fatal procedures it performs each year continues to rise steadily even as the incidence of abortion in the United States has decreased.
Estimates based on Planned Parenthood’s annual reports show the national organization earned at least $114.9 million from abortions in 2009. In 2010, according to an article in The Daily Caller, Planned Parenthood issued a new mandate that by 2013, every one of its affiliates must have at least one clinic performing abortions.
Investigations into the Planned Parenthood claim that abortions represent just 3 percent of its services reveal that the organization lists every service it does equally, so that if a woman comes in for an abortion but also receives a pregnancy test, an Rh type test, an ultrasound, an antibiotic, a pack of birth control pills, and other as-needed tests, the abortion is counted as only one of all these many individual services, even though it is the reason the woman came in. In truth, of the services that Planned Parenthood offered in 2008-2009 for pregnant women — abortion, prenatal care and adoption referrals — more than 97 percent are for abortion.
“Many folks have pointed out that this 3 percent statistic is much like Planned Parenthood handing out 97 condoms for every three abortions. It is totally deceptive,” Dr. Creech said.
Pittman told the media that some people are offended by “someone who stands up and pulls the mask off of the evil around us,” adding, “This is spiritual warfare.”
A Presbyterian minister appointed in October 2011 to replace resigning District 82 Rep. Jeff Barnhart, Pittman won the GOP primary May 8 against Cabarrus County Commissioner Jay White, and is unopposed in November.
TAKE CHRISTIAN ACTION:
You can be certain Rep. Pittman is getting plenty of grief from the left’s pro-choice supporters. Take just a moment to write an email and thank him for taking a bold stand for life. Encourage Rep. Pittman and tell him he has your prayers and support. His email address is: Larry.Pittman@ncleg.net