Pro-Lifers to Hold Planned Parenthood National Day of Protest in Broward on Saturday

Anti-abortion activists are calling for a protest at the Planned Parenthood facility at 263 N. University Drive in Pembroke Pines this weekend. The gathering is being headed up by Broward Right to Life & Respect Life in what is being called a National Day of Protest at Planned Parenthood offices and facilities across the country on Saturday.

The pro-life groups involved in the protest say they're gathering to "raise awareness about Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of aborted baby parts" and point to the recent undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress that have been all over the news lately. The heavily edited videos purport to show that Planned Parenthood abortion clinics, with the sanction of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, are involved in the harvesting and selling of body parts of unborn fetuses for profit, which federal laws prohibit. The videos also purportedly show Planned Parenthood executives allegedly haggling over the prices of fetal specimens.

Following the release of the videos, the Department of Health and Human Services launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood but found that the group did not violate any laws and found no evidence of fetal tissue laws being violated. Moreover, a report from FactCheck.org called the accusations of Planned Parenting profiting from selling off fetus tissue "not true." An examination of the videos shows that the Planned Parenthood exec who was secretly taped said that the clinics want to cover costs and not make money, according to FactCheck's findings. 

In an unedited version of the video, the Planned Parenthood official says,“Affiliates are not looking to make money by doing this. They’re looking to serve their patients and just make it not impact their bottom line.”

Furthermore, federal law does not prohibit fetal tissue donations to be used for research. 

Still, the controversy over the edited videos released by the Center for Medical Progress moved Florida Gov. Rick Scott to order an investigation of several Planned Parenthood offices by the state health agency for possibly illegally performing second-trimester abortions when they are licensed only for first-trimester procedures. On Monday, Planned Parenthood filed an emergency injunction against the state health agency. Much like it claimed the videos falsely show that Planned Parenthood sells baby parts to the black market, the group says the charges made by the state are false. 

Meanwhile, other states have also initiated investigations of Planned Parenthood, and legislation was introduced in Congress to defund the group.

In the midst of these accusations and investigations, pro-life groups are calling for the protest on Saturday. 

“Planned Parenthood killed more than 325,000 babies through abortion last year, more than any organization in the U.S.," the president of Broward Right to Life, John Aman, says. "With almost half of its total revenue coming from taxpayers, Planned Parenthood further enriches itself by selling organs and other tissue from infants robbed of their lives by abortion. This is heinous. Planned Parenthood must be held accountable for profiting off of dead babies. That is why concerned local citizens will be sending the message that it’s well past time for Planned Parenthood to be run out of town."

For the record, federal money cannot cover abortions except for Medicaid patients in cases of rape, incest, or a pregnancy that is medically considered a threat to a woman’s life.

The protest at the Pembroke Pines Planned Parenthood facility is scheduled to run from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday. 

The national day of protest is being coordinated by ProtestPP.com, a pro-life coalition made up of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Created Equal, 40 Days for Life, the Pro-Life Action League, and cosponsored by 50 state and national pro-life organizations.