Scott Tibbs
May 10^th, 2005

Back to Opinion Columns.

I sent this letter to the Social Services Funding Committee. I sincerely ask that you consider the objections raised in this letter.

To the members of the Social Services Funding Committee:

Tonight, for the seventh year in a row, Planned Parenthood is coming before city government asking for a handout of taxpayer money. That handout has been from the Social Services Funding Committee six out of those seven years. I write to you today to encourage you to not give Planned Parenthood another grant from the taxpayers' wallets. These grants include the following:

• 2004 - $2,923 for cervical biopsy equipment
• 2003 - $3,600 to purchase 4 computers for 421 south college facility
• 2002 - $1,500 to purchase an autoclave
• 2001 - $1,394 to purchase equipment to test for anemia
• 2000 - $2000 for "teen education" (This was from the Community Development Block Grants monies disbursed annually.)
• 1999 - $5,000 for a medical exam table

Planned Parenthood is asking for a grant so they can install surveillance equipment at their facility on South College Avenue. While I am no friend of PP, I do hope they are able to find the funds to install this equipment, due to recent acts of violence at the facility. Anything that helps catch criminals who perpetrate acts of violence is a good thing.

My problem with Planned Parenthood's grant application is that I do not believe pro-life taxpayers in Bloomington should be forced to subsidize America's number one abortion provider. There are acts of violence every week at Planned Parenthood's facility on South College. Every Thursday, Planned Parenthood kills numerous babies in their mother's wombs.

When George W. Bush was campaigning for President five years ago, he promised to be "a uniter, not a divider". Should that not be the goal of the Social Services Funding Committee? For five out of the last six years, both the SSFC and the Bloomington City Council has steamrolled over the objections of people who find Planned Parenthood to be a morally repugnant organization.

That is not, however, the main reason why you should deny Planned Parenthood's grant request. I invite you to take a look at Planned Parenthood's latest financial report:

• http://www.plannedparenthoodrx.com/annualreport/report-04.pdf

Planned Parenthood's own report states the organization took in $810 million for their fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, and spent only $774 million. As you can see via simple math, Planned Parenthood earned a profit of $35,200,000.

You are responsible for the allocation of scare taxpayer resources. You make recommendations to the City Council so they can help charitable organizations serve the community. You have a responsibility to the citizens of Bloomington, the organizations that apply for grants from the city, and the people who are served by those charitable organizations to make sure the money you spend is allocated in the most effective way possible.

Since the national Planned Parenthood earned a $35,200,000 profit last year, the local Planned Parenthood should go to them for help rather than to city government in Bloomington, Indiana. If you give a $3,000 handout to Planned Parenthood, you are stealing from other organizations that need financial help and do not have an obscenely wealthy national organization to back them up.

In 1 Timothy 5:3-16, the church is given a set of instructions on who is to be helped and who is not. A strong theme in these instructions is that the church helps those who need help the most. The local branch of Planned Parenthood certainly does not need your help, because they can ask for help from the national Planned Parenthood. The question before you as you consider giving corporate welfare to Planned Parenthood is this: are you, as representatives of the community, going to spend the money entrusted to you in the most effective way possible? Or will you instead make your decision based on politics?