COLUMBIA, Mo. – About two dozen anti-abortion advocates held a brief protest outside of and delivered letters condemning the practices of Planned Parenthood to Sen. Claire McCaskill’s Columbia office Tuesday morning.
The group delivered a letter signed by over 100 anti-abortion advocates from around mid-Missouri, calling to defund Planned Parenthood after allegations that the health care provider was selling fetal tissue for profit.
“Any politician who supports Planned Parenthood supports this deranged view of preborn babies and the calculated business model that puts a price tag on every woman that walks into their doors,” the letter reads. “Please vote to defund Planned Parenthood immediately and if you have received donations from Planned Parenthood, they should be returned immediately.”
Kathy Forck, coordinator of the 40 Days for Life Campaign in Columbia, believes that the state should hold Planned Parenthood accountable. She praised the work of the Committee on the Sanctity of Life, chaired by Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia.
“Planned Parenthood receives over $1 million a day in our tax money,” Forck said. “We’re very distressed that our tax money goes to an organization that is linked with the allegation that they are selling baby body parts. As the videos come out, it is true and they are doing this.
“As a Catholic, I believe in the sanctity of human life and the body is not to be desecrated, and I believe those baby’s bodies were desecrated first of all when they were aborted and then to have their bodies used for gain is horrendous.”
Forck was also the organizer of the “Women Betrayed” rally held outside the Columbia Planned Parenthood affiliate earlier this month. Another protest outside the facility has been planned for Saturday at 10 a.m.
Although McCaskill herself was not present (she was in St. Louis today on tour of her new book, Plenty Ladylike), staff at McCaskill’s office welcomed the protesters, took their letters and invited them into the office.
