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Karen Handel on Abortion |
"She imposed her own views and cut off funding for breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood," Ossoff said.
"I have been working on women's health issues for nearly my entire life," Handel responded. "I will not be lectured by you or anyone else." She said that she was just one of many employees at Komen and that she carried out the decision to cut ties with Planned Parenthood after being instructed to do so by the Komen board.
Handel, while at the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research, pushed the group to end funding for Planned Parenthood, a women's health organization that provides abortions. The move triggered a huge public controversy, the group reversed its decision and Handel resigned.
The Susan B. Anthony List touts her fight to keep money from Planned Parenthood in its endorsement: "Karen Handel is a strong, articulate pro-life leader," said the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund President. "Karen fearlessly exposed the false roots of the 'war on women' PR campaign when she called America's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, a bully--and busted the myth that they provide mammograms."
We want to fact-check: Does the health care law provide a means for coverage for abortions? A US Department of Health and Human Services weblink contradicts Handel's claim that the law provides coverage for abortions. It says the health care law does not pay for abortions, citing a decades-old federal policy called the Hyde Amendment.
But if a state chooses to, it can use its own funds to cover abortions, & states will continue to have this option under the health care law. So, can women get abortions through the ObamaCare exchanges? It depends which state you reside in. Because that bit of detail was not mentioned, we rate Handel's entire claim Mostly True.
Steve and I had to make a decision--for the sake of our marriage; for my sake. Do we cross the bridge to a life without children of our own or do we stay in a place so filled with pain that it is tearing us apart and destroying us both emotionally? We crossed the bridge--together, with Steve holding my hand the entire way--trusting that God would indeed "make the rough places smooth."
Out of this very personal, painful struggle, my pro-life beliefs were deepened.
I was immediately uncomfortable, and my focus drifted as the sadness and pain of not having a child pushed their way to the surface. Then I thought I heard Becker say something about fertility treatments being immoral, that they would be outlawed.
What do fertility treatments have to do with pro-abortion or pro-life?
During our nearly 10-year journey, Steve and I tried nearly every fertility treatment that was available at the time--all to no avail. If a married couple can benefit from fertility treatments, including in vitro, who was I to prevent that couple from being a family--to prevent that woman from being a mom?
Becker went off on a tangent about the California "Octomom"--as if she was a fair representation of the hundreds of thousands of married couples pursuing fertility in hopes of having even just one child of their own.
Whatever the reality, Planned Parenthood is the country's leading abortion provider. In 2010, Planned Parenthood performed 329, 445 surgical abortions or abortions using the RU486 pill, commonly known as the morning-after pill. That's more than 27% of all abortions performed in the US every year. Further, just 841 adoption referrals were made.
It should concern all of us that an overly political interest group like Planned Parenthood receives nearly $500 million a year-- that's nearly $1.5 million each and every year--in government funding.
Planned Parenthood's funding is legally funneled to its many political arms to be doled out to candidates who will be Planned Parenthood champions for yet more government funding.
A corrupt triangle has been empowered: government money flows to Planned Parenthood; Planned Parenthood money is then used to attack its opponents and elect its friends; those friends funnel more taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood. Without their permission, the American taxpayers--that's you and me--have turned into subsidizers not only of abortion but also of political propagandizing. This must end.
Karen is pro-life. As a matter of law she believes society may allow for exceptions in cases of rape, incest or when there is a real threat to the mother's life.
Karen believes that science has shown that adult stem cells have greater scientific and medicinal value than embryonic stem cells. Creating life only to end it and use it for research is wrong.