Guest Post by Larry Gadbaugh
Certainly you’ve seen and heard the outrage regarding the exposure of Planned Parenthood’s involvement in “harvesting” the organs of aborted babies. Many voices are now calling for defunding the abortion giant’s pipeline to half a billion of our tax dollars.
In a recent article, Eric Metaxas challenged Planned Parenthood about exposure of its practices concerning fetal tissue harvesting:
“If there’s “nothing to see here” and nothing-out-of-the-ordinary going on , then I have a suggestion: Let us take a look”¦All we’re doing is asking for transparency, especially since our tax dollars go to support your organization.”
So far, Planned Parenthood has consistently rejected that transparency.
By contrast, I’m thankful for the privilege of serving at First Image of Portland: where we have nothing to hide. After all, why would anyone hide life-empowering compassion for women, children, and families.
Hypocritically, Planned Parenthood has attempted to legislate against pregnancy centers in Oregon – and many other states – in order to keep women from seeing their babies’ sonograms in our centers.
Why? Because they know that the majority of women who see their baby on ultrasound will choose to give birth to their child. Similarly, fathers’ attitudes about pregnancy often change dramatically when they see an ultrasound for the first time. Everyone should have that information and opportunity for connection – before they make a life-changing pregnancy decision.
Planned Parenthood is working hard to hide. They hide their own practices. They are trying to hide the compassionate life-empowering work of pregnancy centers.
While Planned Parenthood receives half a billion dollars of public money while rejecting transparency and hiding behind “women’s health,” First Image and other care centers serve thousands in their communities without public funding.
In 2010, a reporter from the Portland Mercury admitted that we are not as we have been portrayed:
“In my own experience faking pregnancy at two of the Pregnancy Resource Centers of Greater Portland, I found the staff both compassionate about my liberal beliefs and upfront about the services they don’t provide.”
First Image and thousands of other care centers are committed to providing non-judgmental information to those making pregnancy decisions, empowering life-affirming choices, and offering much needed practical support to women and men.
Attempts to undermine us have failed because all we do is educate and equip compassionate people of faith to serve and help women and couples to understand their pregnancy, healthy relationships, and the freedom that comes through accepting God’s love for them.
Our communities need greater awareness about the effectiveness of local care centers. They need to have greater access to our compassionate volunteers, staff, and the well-trained medical professionals, who offer them ultrasounds, vital referrals and other resources.
And so, I invite you to join me in doing two things:
- Pray for those working in and for Planned Parenthood. This is a difficult time for them and they need the transforming grace of God.
- Prioritize transparent and effective ways to invite people making pregnancy decisions to our centers and provide them with excellent services.
Hundreds of thousands of our neighbors in the U.S. and Canada need the compassion, hope, and help availabile in local care centers. We are here for them. Always.
After all, we have nothing to hide.
This post is condensed from content originally appearing on Care Net’s private, affiliate-access website.
Larry Gadbaugh is CEO of First Image, a ministry of five Portland, Oregon care centers dedicated to living “out the heart of God to restore His Image in the Lives of those who have been impacted by sexual brokenness and abortion.” A version of this article originally appeared in the center’s email newsletter.