More than 100 antiabortion activists rallied in frigid temperatures near the Planned Parenthood clinic in Warminster on Saturday, one of dozens of demonstrations nationwide in support of efforts by President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress to withdraw federal funding from the agency.
Speakers here excoriated Planned Parenthood for providing abortions and called on elected leaders to cut federal funding as part of budget deliberations in Congress.
Several demonstrations around Pennsylvania came just days after the state Senate passed and sent to the House legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, four weeks earlier than current law allows, except in the case of medical emergencies. If the House also passes the measure, Gov. Wolf has pledged to veto it, but there may be enough votes in the Republican-controlled legislature to override him.
“Close these places; we do not want these places,” said the Rev. Frank Pavone of Staten Island, N.Y., national director of Priests for Life, who spoke at the Warminster rally. “Cain killed Abel, but what should we learn from this failure? The question that God asked Cain is, ‘Where is your brother?’ We know the answer to that question. The U.S. Supreme Court was asked the same question in 1973 [the year it decided Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion]. The Supreme Court gave the same answer as Cain, ‘I do not know.' ”
One abortion-rights demonstrator stood nearby, hoisting a sign that read: "The holder of the uterus decides."
Pavone urged the crowd as well as political leaders to disregard social and political pressure to abandon their principles.
“Those politicians who worry that they will lose votes if they come out too pro-life … this last election proved otherwise,” he said.
The Warminster group sang and prayed throughout the two-hour event, holding placards that read, “Women regret abortion,” and “Men regret lost fatherhood,” among others, as passing motorists periodically tooted their horns in support or flashed a thumbs-up signal.
Read the rest of this article at the Philadelphia Inquirer website.