Planned Parenthood picketed in Bend, around US
Across Oregon and the nation on Saturday, including in Bend, abortion opponents stood outside of Planned Parenthood clinics in protests amid the recent release of controversial videos.
Although many groups like Oregon Right to Life stage similar protests there every week, Saturday was different, due to the recent videos that show members of Planned Parenthood staff allegedly discussing selling body parts of aborted fetuses for a profit.
In Bend, about 150 people stood with signs lining Northwest Division Street , with some passing motorists honking horns to show their support. They held up signs with various messages, such as “Abortion Kills Children,” and “Choose Life, Love the Woman and Her Child.”
Dr. Richard Thorne, a retired Bend OB-GYN and past president of Oregon Right to Life, said they were protesting “the barbarism involved not only of abortions, but then the selling for profit of baby parts for so-called ‘medical research’ and for ‘humane reasons.'” He said researchers who wish to use unborn children’s body parts are supporting “an evil means to a ‘good end.'”
NewsChannel 21’s Dani Fried contacted Planned Parenthood as well, and while no one was available for an on-camera interview, the organization sent a statement:
“”Extremists who oppose Planned Parenthood’s mission and services are making outrageous and completely false claims. These videos are a fraud intended to deceive the public, and the real agenda of these attacks has become totally clear: to ban abortion and limit women’s access to reproductive health care at Planned Parenthood. The group behind these discredited videos has close ties with organizations and individuals who have been linked to firebombing abortion clinics and threatening the physical safety of doctors who provide abortion.”
