Their profit margin is better than oil companies.

Cassy,

How are you being forced to pay for abortions?I know the government subsidize the cost of birth control, cancer screening, HIV testing and other reproductive care for low-income patients but I do not believe they do so for abortions.

with the preface that I'm no fan of Planned Parenthood...

what's with the crack about Mal Wart? don't you know it's the liberals who hate the place? Notwithstanding the specific service Planned Parenthood provides, shouldn't we applaud their providing decent service at an affordable price to those without the time and means to go elsewhere?

likewise, so what that they're a non-profit? liberals are the ones who try to tax every pot of cash they see. Me, I'd rather all companies be tax-exempt. (by the way, non-profit doesn't mean they're exempt from all taxes, they do have to pay tax on profits from non-core activities).

and we all have to 'pay' for things we don't morally like. you get to pay for abortions, liberals get to pay for war in Iraq, a much more expensive program. seems like the liberals are the ones getting screwed on that exchange.

having said that, you're not really paying for abortions, at least not with your federal taxes, as with the budget deficits we're running, you can look at it as if the government was borrowing to pay for abortions, and since we're never going to eliminate the federal debt, neither you nor your offspring will ever have to pay for someone else's abortion.

and apparently, there aren't enough americans opposed to abortion, otherwise they would have prevailed upon congress to stop funding Planned Parenthood. you may be adamant, you may be loud, but there ain't enough of you.

Some information on public funding of abortion:

http://www.aclu.org/FilesPDFs/map.pdf

Dave,
Many states fund or subsidize abortion. PParenthood is the #1 recipient of those government $s.

You're an idiot, Fiano. Replace "abortion" with "blood transfusion", and then re-evaluate your selfish non-argument.

Thought you would be interested in seeing this video investigation of Planned Parenthood and racism that is happening today:

http://liveactionfilms.org/

PART I: Planned Parenthood Racism Investigation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eygv8qEkiFE

New Mexico: Planned Parenthood Racism Investigation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgf5m1QoCOU

Hannity & Colmes on Planned Parenthood Rape Investigation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S99jkoQp1c

-David R. Schmidt, LiveActionFilms Media Director

You're an idiot Fiano. Replace "abortion" with "flux capacitor**" and then re-evaluate for selfish non-argument.

(/tongue in cheek)

* - replace "abortion" with any feel-good statement like "free money" or "fountain of youth", or use a totally irrelevant word. It's fun!

Sorry Duncan, I'll be more clear:

People are morally opposed to abortion. Their business, but it's non-legislatable. We're well past the point where a developed, secular nation will pass laws outlawing the practice.

People are morally opposed to blood transfusions. Their business, but it's non-legislatable. We're well past the point where a developed, secular nation will pass laws outlawing the practice.

Is the reductio more understandable now? Or do you deny that it's analogous? If so, on what grounds? I'm not a bioethicist, but I'll go out on a limb and assume that neither you nor Cassy are either.

Murder is a moral issue. Rape is a moral issue. Armed robbery is a moral issue. Do we help the victim? Or just quibble, like hyperbolist, who lives in the nirvana bubble of Canada? Why hyper dazzled us with his viewpoint, three babies were aborted. ww

1) Why muddle the argument against abortion with this "non-profit making a profit" non-sense? Do you want to damage your argument? Do you want to sound ignorant? Do you want to give the opposition fodder to shoot at?

2) Interesting point WW. Did you calculate that for Canada or the US? While we have about 8 times as many abortions in the US a year as Canada, their rate of abortions per live births is 50% higher than ours, with a population total about a tenth of ours.

What about Israel? My friend is a genetic counselor here, and all of his clients are Israelis who want to know if they should have a do-over or keep the fetus based on whatever information can be gained prior to the birth.

Willie, if something is indeed a "moral issue", like your examples, then you can sure as hell bet that they require a lot more debate and conceptual analysis than you've paid. What "person" is the victim in abortion? As the mother and fetus are a single person, who is being victimized when the woman acts as an autonomous person when she elects to terminate the pregnancy?

It's harder than babies is humans!!! There are text books written about it! You should get one and read it, rather than listening to what television commentators and vote-sucking thrice-divorced Republican pseudo-Christian hypocrites have to say about it.

Hyperbolist, you certainly have no problem living up (or down) to your moniker. If someone believes that the life of a person begins at conception, then mother and fetus (Latin for "little one") are separate entities. The sad thing is, in abortion, both the mother and fetus are victims. One just gets to keep living.

JFNK, Hyper cannot understand "right". He thrives on making the simple complex so he can live in gray without guilt. See, hyper thinks it is up to me to prove the baby (fetus) is a human. I on the other hand, would err on the side of possibly killing innocent people. If I saw someone beating another person I would act somehow to stop that. Hyper will say "maybe the person deserves the beating", "maybe it is self defence", "they have police for this sort of thing", then walks away confident that he reasoned correctly while someone get beat to death. That is hyper. That is canada. ww

If someone believes that the life of a person begins at conception, then mother and fetus (Latin for "little one") are separate entities. Well, "if" would be the operative word there. And it really matters how many Supreme Court judges believe that, doesn't it?

Willie, I cannot take you seriously when you say things like "I on the other hand, would err on the side of possibly killing innocent people" when you so blithely support military intervention that necessarily leads to the deaths of many innocent people. You certainly do seem to care about something, but it sure isn't innocent life. (Or perhaps you have a way of ranking which innocent lives are worth caring about, and which concerns trump the value of which innocent lives, in which case I would appreciate it if you would divulge your moral rubric so I could pick that apart too.)

I might get a sessional lectureship at a university here teaching contemporary moral issues to pre-med and Engineering students, for something to do in the evenings. These issues will be central to the course. Would you like to enroll? If you like I can just send you the syllabus and you can go find the journal articles and book chapters yourself.

They provide a medical service. What's so complicated about that? Are you really so dumb that you don't understand that non-profit medical providers are pretty common entities?

Armed robbery is a moral issue. Do we help the victim?

A little something about PP profits...

Planned Parenthood of America (PPFA) is made up a 107 affiliates around the country. HQ makes lots of money, affiliates in liberal areas make good money, affiliates in lots of conservative areas are beginning to lose their asses.

Why is that? PP makes money with government grants , donations and by selling birth control at slightly less than typical pharmacies. In Liberal areas people donate, in conservative areas they do not. What has changed the dynamic are the new low cost prescription programs from Kroger, Publix and Wal-Mart (here in the South). They are selling generic birth control below the cost that PP acquires it. Kroger sells for $4, PP purchases it at about$6. This is killing them.

If you want to hurt PP, expand low cost prescription programs, sell birth control below cost - it will run them out of business.

But what about the blastocyst-Americans?!!!! They're people too!!!!

Don't be silly. It is illegal for taxes to pay for abortions, and Planned Parenthood uses none of its money to pay for them. The taxes collected by PP go to pap smears, sti testing, contraception, etc for low income women. All of this insinuation that Americans pay for abortions willy nilly is just a war on the poor. And Bachmann suggesting that women get abortions like they get haircuts... not only is it not possible (it takes days to secure an abortion and prepare for it) it is an insult, saying each and every woman does not go through harrowing emotional introspection and counseling, not to mention drug treatments and a frigging operation. Republicans simply want money from PP, NPR, and unions to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Lying about what PP is is just a means to get Americans behind them.