McMinnville Christians organize to protest Planned Parenthood clinic

By JOHN FORTMEYER

CNNW publisher

McMINNVILLE — Following the lead of concerned Christians in Portland who are opposing the placement of a Planned Parenthood clinic in that city’s northeast sector, Christians in McMinnville are protesting the arrival of the organization in their city as well.
Abortion is why.
But while Planned Parenthood acknowledges that abortions will be performed at the planned new headquarters on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Portland, the organization claims its new McMinnville clinic at 130 N.W. Sixth St. will not be an abortion site.
But members of the Christian group, Yamhill County for LIFE, note that the McMinnville office will still do referrals for abortion.
Also, they believe Planned Parenthood — which is the nation’s largest abortion provider — too often masks its true intentions in setting up such facilities. They say they would not be surprised if abortions were pursued at the McMinnville location.
The group’s concerns prompted them to begin picketing on Adams Street in McMinnville last month in advance of this month’s scheduled opening of the clinic.
With the guidance of Salem-based Oregon Right to Life, the group on Sept. 6 held the first of weekly meetings at St. James Catholic Church. The approximately 50 people attending heard from Gayle Atteberry and Kate Ewald of Oregon Right to Life, and from Beaverton resident and Portland schoolteacher Bill Diss, founder of Precioius Children of Portland. His group was formed earlier this year in response to Planned Parenthood’s planned relocation to property at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Beech Street — the heart of the city’s African-American neighborhood.
Atteberry noted that Planned Parenthood performed 264,000 abortions in 2005-06 — almost double what it had performed a decade earlier. Almost 20 percent of all abortions in America are now done at Planned Parenthood facilities, she said. Of Planned Parenthood’s 16 existing facilities in Oregon, abortions are done at six of them.
Atteberry noted that Yamhill County is one of the more conservative areas in western Oregon; McMinnville is the county seat.“It is an insult to you to have a killer of children moving into your downtown area,” she told the McMinnville group.
But Nancy Bennet, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood, told the News-Register newspaper of McMinnville that more services are needed in Yamhill County. She said Planned Parenthood serves mainly low-income women who come to the agency not only for family planning services but also for cancer screening and treatment.
According to Bennet, the McMinnville clinic will offer contraceptive services and supplies, annual gynecological check-ups, breast exams, pelvic exams, cervical cancer screening and treatment, testing and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases for both men and women, pregnancy testing and counseling and more.
However, Diss said Planned Parenthood is diametrically opposed to traditional Christian morality and sanctity of life. He told the McMinnville Christians to be prayerfully prepared for a tough battle against the organization.
“It is a fight,” he said. “It is a multifaceted war, and if you don’t look at it like that you are going to be in trouble,” Diss said.