Seasons of Grace
Last week, I and others in media reported on the scandalous testimony of Planned Parenthood spokesperson Alisa LaPolt Snow before a committee of the Florida Legislature.
Ms. Snow, asked by Florida State Senator Jim Boyd what Planned Parenthood would do if a child were born alive following a failed abortion, expressed the conviction that any decision [whether to kill the child] should remain between the woman and her doctor. The interview deteriorated, with Ms. Snow averring that an abortion clinic should not be expected to transport the surviving newborn, especially since the nearest medical center could be as far as 45 minutes or an hour away.
In case you missed it, you can watch the entire inflammatory exchange at my original post here.
Since I published my article on March 29, there have been several notable updates:
- More information has come to light regarding Alisa LaPolt Snow’s Catholic background; and
- Planned Parenthood, embarrassed by the trending video exposing their representative’s controversial statements, has released not one, but two statements.
With regard to Snow’s qualifications, I had warned parents of small children that this advocate of newborn-killing was associated with many child care agencies in Florida. A reader responded, sending more information about Snow’s Catholic connections. I’ve been able to quickly confirm the accuracy of that claim.
According to Snow’s website:
Alisa is a graduate of the University of Tennessee where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications/journalism. She was a founding member and secretary of the Sunset Rotary Club of Tallahassee and serves on the board of Catholic Charities of Northwest Florida-Tallahassee. She is a member of the Florida Association of Professional Lobbyists.
And her Twitter account (@alisa_snow) has been closed, but there remained 88 unfriendly messages from people who are shocked by her callousness toward helpless infants. Her original Twitter account, according to my sources, read:
The latest from Alisa LaPolt Snow (@alisa_snow). Former newspaper reporter tired of sitting on the sidelines. Now I lobby for the good guys in health care.
As for Planned Parenthood’s statements, an April 1 statement clarified their position regarding how a child born of a failed abortion should be treated. The statement reads:
April 1, 2013
Statement regarding Planned Parenthood’s testimony on HB 1129
Last week, a panel of Florida state legislators demanded speculation about a vague set of extremely unlikely and highly unusual medical circumstances. Medical guidelines and ethics already compel physicians facing life-threatening circumstances to respond, and Planned Parenthood physicians provide high-quality medical care and adhere to the most rigorous professional standards, including providing emergency care. In the extremely unlikely event that the scenario presented by the panel of legislators should happen, of course Planned Parenthood would provide appropriate care to both the woman and the infant.
And this morning a second, longer statement was released, claiming that some “biased media outlets” had misrepresented their position. But was it the media outlets which misrepresented Planned Parenthood? Or was it their own paid spokesperson?
Please don’t take my word for it; go back, check out the video here.
Following is Planned Parenthood’s most recent statement in its entirety.
April 4, 2013
Following a hearing last week in the House of Representatives Civil Justice Subcommittee, some biased media outlets reported our position inaccurately.
To ensure that there is no confusion about our position – which has been consistent throughout and is rooted in Planned Parenthood’s role as a provider of cancer screenings, STD tests, birth control, and other basic, preventive health care to more than 80,000 people across Florida every year, I want to take this opportunity to restate our position.
As a trusted health care provider, Planned Parenthood strongly condemns any physician who does not follow the law or endangers a woman’s or child’s health. And while HB 1129 addresses a situation that is extremely unlikely and highly unusual, if the scenario presented by the legislation should happen, of course a Planned Parenthood doctor would provide appropriate care to both the woman and the infant.
Both general medical guidelines and ethics and Planned Parenthood’s own policies already compel physicians facing life-threatening circumstances to respond, and Planned Parenthood physicians provide high-quality medical care and adhere to the most rigorous professional standards, including providing emergency care.
I want to be clear that Planned Parenthood works every day to ensure women, men and families can lead healthy lives with access to health care. More than 90 percent of what we do is preventive care such as life saving cancer screenings and STD testing and treatment.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Florida know what we stand for first-hand – they’re the women who have children today because Planned Parenthood helped them control their Endometriosis and preserve their fertility, the young men who are able to have jobs and families because we helped detect their HIV early, and the women who will live to see their grandchildren because we caught their breast cancer.
We again want to thank the bill sponsor for addressing our concerns and therefore we can withdraw our opposition.
So see, you can rest easy: Planned Parenthood–those wonderful, pro-life heroes!–just LOVES newborns and wants to reassure you of their desire to treat them well. Five minutes earlier, they’d have broken their little necks; but NOW–well, they want only the best….
I’m guessing that the negative publicity following Snow’s testimony, combined with her closed Twitter account, mean that Alisa LaPolt Snow is no longer representing America’s largest abortion center. Watch this space for further updates.
Oh–and I know you’ll enjoy this article about high-tech images taken of children in utero.
And be sure to check out the Daily Mail’s video of a 30-week-old baby yawning for the camera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3v2YMxOaUM
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