On Sunday, Aug. 9, the Des Moines Register published an op-ed from Bob Vander Plaats demand Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad investigate, prosecute as warranted, and defund Planned Parenthood for lying to its patients, butchering unborn babies, and harvesting their body parts for financial gain.
The text of that op-ed can be read below. The original, Des Moines Register piece can be read by clicking here.
It’s over. The jig is up. We all now know Planned Parenthood kills babies and sells their body parts. We’ve seen the videos. The questions is: What are our leaders going to do about it?
Arguing that Planned Parenthood provides other services, besides abortion and selling baby parts, is irrelevant. They kill babies, dismember them, market them and sell them. Any organization that embraces this kind of darkness should not get a dime of funding from anyone: not taxpayers, not donors, not anyone.
Sen. Harry Reid said those working to end funding for Planned Parenthood have “lost their moral compass.” I urge all readers to view these videos and then determine who has lost their moral compass. Casually negotiating, over lunch and a glass of wine, the best method of killing babies in order to maximize the sales opportunity for intact body parts is extraordinarily dark. And it speaks volumes about the people who perpetrate and fund such evil.
We must be better than this!
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana did what moral leaders should do. Upon witnessing this atrocity, he immediately protected his citizens from having to fund this ghoulish organization called Planned Parenthood any longer. He ended their contract and promised to vigorously investigate and prosecute them to the full extent of the law. Every jurisdiction in America should expect its leaders to do the same.
Thus, we encourage Gov. Terry Branstad to do the same and make Iowa a leader in protecting the innocent. He should follow Governor Jindal’s lead and defund, investigate, and when necessary, prosecute. And he should make clear to other organizations, “If you want money for women’s health, you shouldn’t slaughter little girls (or boys).”
It’s absurd to believe that the state of Iowa has entered into contracts that don’t allow it to end funding for the killing and selling, piece by piece, of innocent babies. What does it take in America to lose government funding? If being caught on video selling murdered children isn’t enough, then what is? This needs to end now. There is no excuse for Planned Parenthood of Iowa to receive another dime from taxpayers. The governor said five years ago that he would defund Planned Parenthood. If not now, when?
On a federal level, Planned Parenthood receives $528 million a year in taxpayer dollars. We applaud Iowa Sens. Ernst and Grassley for working to defund Planned Parenthood, but that effort should not end with a single failed procedural vote. The time for games and votes for “show” is over. This is the time for deeds. There are other avenues to defund, such as attaching an amendment to must-pass legislation. Many legislators believe funding for a bloated government is “must pass” legislation, but defunding baby killers is not. They should be ashamed. And we should make sure that if they continue to support murderers with our tax dollars, they will lose re-election.
All Iowans and all Americans should take note of who is leading on this issue. If your senator, governor, representative,or favorite 2016 candidate is not raising their voice and taking action to protect these voiceless infants, then they should feel your anger at the voting booth. There are no excuses. The time for action is now. The voices of the innocent cry out. We have a message for Planned Parenthood, and we call on all leaders to join us in proclaiming it: No rhetoric, no lies, no fancy terms, no backrooms and no freezers will drown out the cries of the murdered children. We have heard their cry, and we are their voice. Hear us loud and clear — it’s over!
