KEEPING WOMEN FROM THE TRUTH
I have sidewalk counseled outside Planned Parenthood (PP) centers since 1986 and have witnessed firsthand the tactics used by this “pro-choice” organization to limit women’s access to information and choices.
In the early years, we distributed pro-life literature and talked with clients as they walked past us into the abortion facility. The women could hear our offers of help. Many took literature and some gratefully accepted our help, choosing life for their babies! Then PP started using “escorts.” While these escorts walked the clients into the center, they talked to and distracted them, trying to prevent them from hearing the truth and offers of help. Women who smoked would stand outside, giving us an additional chance to reach them with the truth. This resulted in more lives saved. Eventually PP began directing smokers to the parking lot near a noisy air conditioning unit, hindering their ability to hear us.
I’ve learned from my conversations with PP escorts over the years that they are often uninformed about what actually goes on inside PP and the extent of the services offered by pro-life pregnancy resource centers. They refer to our brochures as false propaganda. Sadly, they sometimes pass this misinformation on to the abortion clients.
PP has also used like-minded public officials to keep the truth from abortion clients. In 2022, the Minneapolis City Council, at the behest of PP, enacted an ordinance restricting the free-speech rights of sidewalk counselors outside the PP in that city. It took a federal lawsuit and a two-year legal battle with the city, but ultimately, the constitutional rights of the sidewalk counselors were restored.
Over the years, PP has also called the police countless times, attempting to obstruct our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly. If PP believes so strongly in women’s autonomy, why don’t they think their clients can decide for themselves if they want to take our literature and talk to us? But despite all these efforts of PP to maintain a steady flow of “customers” for its abortion business, babies are still being saved through sidewalk counseling. The Truth is more powerful than Planned Parenthood.
PP escort in blue vest tries to interfere with a sidewalk counselor in St. Paul, Minn
Planned Parenthood’s security guards often asked the women for our brochures and there was a trash can right inside labeled “Pop cans and protesters’ brochures.” And a few years ago at PP’s “mega-center” location in St. Paul, a woman who decided not to abort told us that she had secretly opened and read our brochure inside her bag while in the waiting room. She remembered that an acquaintance had been told by PP staff to put the brochure away or she would have to leave.
When announcing plans for this mega-center in St. Paul, PP touted the fact that the building was designed to protect “privacy.” In other words, it was designed to further limit contact between the sidewalk counselors and the abortion clients. Women who contact PP to make an appointment for abortion are encouraged to avoid the sidewalk counselors, whom PP calls “protestors.” Most of the women arrive by car and many of the escorts aggressively motion the drivers to quickly enter, stating, “They’re protestors! You don’t have to take their information.” And these PP escorts often interfere with private conversations between the sidewalk counselors and the women, even at times physically placing themselves in the middle of these conversations at the driveway or on the public sidewalk. On occasion, escorts have stood in front of us, literally babbling nonsense, in order to interfere with our offers of truth and help.
This article was brought to you by:
By Debra Braun
Education Director
Pro-Life Action Ministries, St. Paul, Minn.