Planned Parenthood to close Huntsville office

Goodbye and good riddance!

Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider; it performed almost 290,000 abortions in 2006 alone. It reported $1 billion in revenue in 2006-2007, and an astonishing one-third of that came from taxpayers. You don't have to be an opponent of legalized abortion to find that reprehensible. Funding implies endorsement, plain and simple. And so it's not enough to characterize those who support public funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers as merely pro-choice; in effect, they are also pro-abortion.

Gauging from this recent Wall Street Journal piece, Planned Parenthood would do just fine even without picking the pockets of taxpayers. Here's a taste:

Flush with cash, Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide are aggressively expanding their reach, seeking to woo more affluent patients with a network of suburban clinics and huge new health centers that project a decidedly upscale image. ...

Two elegant new health centers have been built, and at least five more are on the way; the largest, in Houston, will be 75,000 square feet. They feature touches such as muted lighting, hardwood floors and airy waiting rooms in colors selected by marketing experts -- as well as walls designed to withstand a car's impact should an antiabortion protest turn violent.

Planned Parenthood has also opened more than two dozen quick-service "express centers," many in suburban shopping malls. Some sell jewelry, candles, books and T-shirts, along with contraception. ...

Nationally, Planned Parenthood's political-action arm plans to raise $10 million to influence the fall campaign. Under federal tax law, the health-care wing of Planned Parenthood cannot support political candidates but can mobilize voters and advocate on issues such as abortion rights and sex education in schools.

To encourage the new wave of patients to join the cause, an express center in Parker, Colo., sells political buttons next to the condoms and sets out invitations to activism by the magazine rack. A 52,000-square-foot center opening this summer in Denver uses about 20% of its space for health care; roughly 40% is for meetings, including political work.

Planned Parenthood of Alabama's VP of public affairs attributed the need to close its Huntsville office to a "legislative mistake" that left it without enough funding to keep the office open. While that was a fortunate mistake, here's hoping that next time Congress chooses to defund Planned Parenthood permanently and deliberately - so that not one dime of federal tax dollars goes to build its fancy new buildings or to subsidize the horrors that go on inside.