Abby Johnson Describes Planned Parenthood’s “Tissue Donation” Program

Pro-life advocate Abby Johnson recently sat down with the Daily Signal to describe the process by which Planned Parenthood affiliates conduct the “tissue donation” programs we have talked about over the past few weeks.

Johnson was a Planned Parenthood clinic director until 2009; she became pro-life after witnessing an ultrasound-guided abortion.

Johnson told reporters,

“We would tell the client that we are participating in a study and she has an opportunity today to donate the tissue that’s removed from her uterus to a research laboratory where they will be working on life-saving treatments for various diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or other types of medical studies. We would tell her this is an opportunity for her to possibly save the life of someone else by donating this tissue. By creating this altruistic scenario, women would almost always consent and say, ‘Yes, absolutely.’ . . .

“At that time, and this was of course when I worked there until 2009, we as staff members were compensated for every patient that we were able to enroll in a study. It creates coercive tactics.”

You can read Abby Johnson’s full interview here.

Since leaving Planned Parenthood, Abby Johnson has founded a non-profit called And Then There Were None, which specializes in helping men and women leave the abortion industry.

Last month she wrote a column describing the process by which she used to separate aborted fetal remains at Planned Parenthood for shipment to researchers, saying,

“All of the blood, body parts and extra tissue would be collected into a glass jar. That glass jar would come to me in the POC (products of conception) lab through a ‘pass through specimen cabinet.’ I would take the jar to our sink, dump everything into a huge strainer, rinse out the jar and then rinse the blood out of the strainer. After I had a clean body, I would dump it into the glass baking dish that was sitting on top of an x-ray light box. I would put a little bit of water in the glass dish so that the body parts would float…that made it easier for me to manipulate them.”

You can read that full column here.

What Would Women Do If There Were No Planned Parenthood?

The group Heartbeat International has put together a video answering the question, “What would women do if there were no Planned Parenthood?”

You can watch it on Facebook or below.

With a network that is saving over 3,000 lives a week in the USA alone, it is easy to see that pregnancy help is the answer!

Posted by Heartbeat International on Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Must J.P.s Officiate Same-Sex Weddings? A.G. Says It Depends

In response to questions over whether or not former and current Justices of the Peace must officiate same-sex weddings in Arkansas, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office has released an opinion essentially saying it depends on the circumstances.

Senator Bruce Maloch (D–Magnolia) sent a series of questions to the Attorney General regarding the extent to which a Justice of the Peace can be forced to solemnize marriages. Under Arkansas law, a Justice of the Peace can choose to be authorized to solemnize marriages, and a retired J.P. who has served at least two terms on the county quorum court can solemnize marriages even after leaving the quorum court.

Here is a brief overview of the Attorney General’s opinion.

Ministers Are Protected

One thing the Attorney General made extremely clear: Ministers cannot be forced to solemnize same-sex marriages if doing so violates their deeply-held religious convictions. 

Sen. Maloch asked A.G. Rutledge if a minister who is also a current or retired J.P. can be forced to solemnize a same-sex marriage. Under Arkansas law, marriages solemnized by ordained ministers are recognized by the state; the Attorney General’s opinion makes it very clear: If a minister is solemnizing a marriage in a ministerial capacity, the state cannot force that minister to solemnize a union in violation of their deeply-held religious convictions.

The opinion states, (more…)