| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 24, 2020 |
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley [email protected] |
Coalition Writes to Secretary Azar; Calls on Public Officials to Protect Unborn Children and Safeguard Americans Against Abortion Industry Agenda
Washington, D.C. – Today the leaders of national and state-based pro-life groups sent a letter to Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, calling on all public health officials to oppose the promotion of abortion amidst our national response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The letter reads in part:
“While we are in a hectic race to save lives, Planned Parenthood and other powers in the abortion industry remain insistent on taking the lives of innocent unborn children. While surgery centers postpone elective and diagnostic procedures, abortion centers are churning out surgical and chemical abortions and putting women, especially the poor, at risk. Their continued operation depletes sorely needed personal protective equipment and leads to complications that will further overwhelm already overextended emergency rooms. The abortion industry is compounding one crisis with another. Therefore, we urge public officials to use their broad emergency authority to safeguard against the extreme abortion agenda.”
The letter outlines ways that public health officials can resist the abortion lobby’s agenda including:
- Ensuring that emergency response funds are not diverted to the abortion industry;
- Urging the abortion industry to cease operations and join other healthcare providers in donating their PPE and other equipment to coronavirus response;
- Ensure that telemedicine abortion is not expanded during the crisis and maintain FDA limits on dispensing of chemical abortion;
- Continue actions to stop illegal mail-order sale of chemical abortion; and
- Promote medically accurate and supportive information for women that counters the inaccurate and exploitative messaging coming from an abortion industry all too happy to use the current pandemic to scare women and families into abortion.
The letter was signed more than 50 pro-life leaders, including Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of SBA List; Chuck Donovan, President of Charlotte Lozier Institute; Brad Mattes, President of Life Issues Institute; Carol Tobias, President of National Right to Life; Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council; Greg Schleppenbach, Associate Director of USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities; Penny Young Nance, President of Concerned Women for America LAC; Donna Harrison M.D., Executive Director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life; Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life America; Lila Rose, President of Live Action; Jeanne Mancini, President of March for Life; Russell Moore, President of Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; and Jessica Anderson, Vice President of Heritage Action, among others.
Yesterday, SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser responded to reports that Planned Parenthood continues to keep their doors open in Ohio, despite a directive from Governor Mike DeWine and the urgings of national, state, and local government officials to suspend all elective surgical procedures at this time.
SBA List is a network of more than 837,000 pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.
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