Planned Parenthood Story

By Priscila Ortiz

Imagine walking down the street with a friend, sister or girlfriend. You’re both walking towards your local Planned Parenthood. It’s Thursday and abortions are being done today. As you approach the clinic, you see a crowd gathering in front of the entrance. They’re holding up signs and screaming at a young woman trying to leave the clinic.

“Murderer! Murderer!” they chant.

As you reach the building, they turn to you and your sister.

“Baby killers! You’re going to burn for your sins!” The protesters block the entrance and you have to elbow your way in. The protesters shove gruesome pictures of aborted fetuses in your face as you try to get past. You make your way into the building and you hear the not-so-distant chanting of angry protesters on the other side of the wall.

An organization named 40 Days For Life is campaigning to stand outside of countless Planned Parenthood clinics during the 40 days of Lent (February 17-March 28) to attempt to stop as many women as they can from having abortions. According to their website they have managed to shut down several Planned Parenthoods. “Last spring, a 40 Days for Life prayer vigil was held in front of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Kalispell, Montana. On November 20, that facility closed. Planned Parenthood admitted it did not have enough customers to keep the doors open.” In October 2009, another Planned Parenthood clinic closed its doors in Pensacola, Florida.

This season was the first time a Planned Parenthood in the North Country experienced protests from the 40 Days For Life organization, but protests are nothing new to the Plattsburgh branch on 66 Brinkerhoff Street. Jerry Ryan, Robert Shambo, and Tom Healey have all stood in front of the Planned Parenthood with anti-abortion signs four days a week…for fifteen years.

“Since they first opened, I’ve been coming out here,” said Shambo.

When asked if there had ever been any altercations with passersby, Healey said that one day “a kid on a bike” threw coffee at them.

Ryan said the worst he’s ever gotten was getting the finger or sworn at. “It’s okay,” he said with a nonchalant smile, “they show their I.Q. level with that one finger.”

Martha Stahl, Vice President of External Affairs at the Planned Parenthood, seemed unfazed. “Yeah, the protesting is nothing new, especially on Thursdays. That’s when the actual abortions take place.

According to Sr. Barbara Langlois, O.P. from St. Peter’s church, typically around 15 people will show up on Thursdays. She stated she doesn’t confront the women going into the clinic “anymore”. She said she “doesn’t want to disrupt the rosary”. She prays and “hopes that the Lord will do the rest.”