American Pastors Network: Planned Parenthood Using Clergy to Justify Evil Deeds

The American Pastors Network (APN) is calling out Planned Parenthood for using clergy to help justify the recent deplorable actions under the guise of protecting “women’s health.”

Over the past several weeks, a letter to the editor from three Pennsylvania “faith leaders” has appeared in Lancaster Online, the newspaper for Lancaster County; the Allentown Morning Call; and Philly.com, the online presence of the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The letter—penned by a rabbi from Allentown, a retired King of Prussia preacher who is involved with Planned Parenthood, and a Lancaster pastor who is a “racial justice trainer” for YWCA Lancaster, according to a June 2015 Lancaster Online story—opened with:

“As faith leaders from across Pennsylvania, we are proud to publicly support Planned Parenthood and the essential care they provide. As providers of pastoral service in our houses of worship and faith communities, we trust Planned Parenthood to offer quality reproductive health care and educational programming, and we know that its mission and work is consistent with the teachings of our various faiths.”

“Concerted efforts through letters and other newspaper placements like these are evidence of the deep deception of Planned Parenthood to attempt to gain ‘moral’ justification for their evil deeds,” said APN President Sam Rohrer. “Those who are committed to the Lord’s work should have absolutely no ties to anything as barbaric as the behind-the-scenes inner workings of Planned Parenthood. Even out in the open, Planned Parenthood reported performing 327,653 abortions in one year (July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014, according to the Washington Times).”

APN member pastor Jamie Mitchell of Lancaster brought the story to the attention of APN leaders after he read the letter from the pastors and was distressed that any faithful leaders in his state would publicly declare their support for Planned Parenthood, especially in the wake of the scandal in which nine undercover videos thus far have pointed to the possible harvest and sale of the body parts of aborted babies.

“The American Pastors Network—and all Ministers of God—are in a position to defend true pastors and the truth,” Rohrer said. “Pastor Mitchell stood for truth by digging for the facts, and all pastors must, likewise, ‘stand in the gap for truth,’ ensuring that they too are defending life in their churches and empowering their congregations to do the same. Any ‘clergy’ member who would defend the actions of Planned Parenthood is frighteningly far from what God’s Word says about life and being created in His image.

“For all the hatred and denial of moral truth, even the evil seek ‘moral justification’ for their evil deeds,” Rohrer continued. “As Romans 1 and other passages say, the evil, while they deny the power of God, they carry within themselves the innate knowledge of right and wrong. They hate the truth, but they still like to claim truth. Planned Parenthood, much like the homosexual and same-sex marriage activist community, progresses through the stages of seeking acknowledgment, to acceptance to moral parity, to forced involvement.”

The letter from the pastors went on, “This is just the latest political attack on women’s health—and a clearly cynical and coordinated effort designed to undermine this essential health care provider. The group behind this attack has coordinated 10 separate similar campaigns like this over the last eight years. The group’s real agenda is becoming clearer every day—it wants to ban abortion and to defund Planned Parenthood.”

Added Rohrer, “The goals of those committed to life are no secret. We do want to ban abortion and defund Planned Parenthood. That mission is clear. And every faithful person who believes that Psalm 139:13 is true, that ‘you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb,’ (NIV) should stand for life rather than be ‘proud to publicly support’ the nation’s largest abortion provider.”

On Monday, Rohrer talked with Mitchell about this topic on APN’s daily one-hour radio program, “Stand in the Gap Today,” co-hosted by Gary Dull, APN board member and executive director and vice president of PPN, and Dave Kistler, president of the North Carolina Pastors Network (NCPN, www.ncpastors.net). Listen to the program here. “Stand in the Gap Today” can be heard on stations in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas, via satellite and streamed lived online at www.1180wfyl.com.