‘Build a Wall’ Between Taxpayers and Planned Parenthood, Activist Says

WASHINGTON – Pro-life activist Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, told PJM that while she understands the importance of border security, Congress should build a wall between taxpayers and Planned Parenthood.

“I mean, that’s the wall that matters and matters the most because we’re talking about 900 children a day being killed by a corporation that gets our taxpayer dollars,” Rose said during an interview at the March for Life on Friday. “Defund the biggest abortion chain. We are funding them $1.5 million a day and they kill 900 babies every single day and it needs to stop.”

Planned Parenthood’s leadership has said the taxpayer money they receive does not specifically go to abortion services.

“That’s like a football stadium saying ‘well, we don’t do football, we sell hot dogs.’ Planned Parenthood’s focus is abortion… abortion is their cash cow,” Rose said. “They’re the biggest abortion chain. When the government funds the lights that turn on and the staff that runs the building, when they fund all the other ‘side services’ that make the abortion practice possible, then they are responsible for the abortions that are committed.”

Organizers of the Women’s March have discussed the importance of maintaining a women’s right to choose to have an abortion. Rose argued that the Women’s March organizers and participants do not represent women.

“They are not standing up for women. The Women’s March does not represent women — more and more people are leaving the Women’s March. They are so radically pro-abortion. Most American women want abortion restrictions, they want to limit abortions, but the Women’s March is totally opposed to that,” she said.

Tamika Mallory, co-president of the Women’s March, which took place on Saturday, has refused to denounce Louis Farrakhan, whom she posed with in a photo and referred to as the “G.O.A.T.” (Greatest of All Time). In the past, Farrakhan has referred to Jews as “termites.” The Democratic National Committee’s name was removed as a sponsor on the Women’s March website. Rose predicted that the Women’s March might not be around next year due to the Mallory controversy.

“It’s melting down, the Women’s March, and the March for Life continues to grow because this is the most important human rights issue of our day,” she said.

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said she still supports the Women’s March despite the controversy surrounding Mallory.

“I think women need to make their voices heard and I think the march two years ago send a very loud message and inspired women to run. And the results are that we have 24 percent of the Congress now as women members – now, that’s not good enough, but it’s a huge increase,” Speier said during an interview at a reception celebrating women in Congress at the Woman’s National Democratic Club.

In response to Mallory’s refusal to denounce Farrakhan, Speier said, “I understand the controversy; I don’t support Farrakhan. I don’t support that being brought into the issues that women are struggling with every day because they are big, they are family issues, they are personal issues, they are safety issues and that’s why we march.”

Nuchhi Currier, president of the Woman’s National Democratic Club, shared a view similar to Speier on the Women’s March.

“We decided that the women’s movement is much larger than this little squabble. We are not going to get involved in these squabbles,” she said, referring to Mallory. “The march is a symbol of something greater.”

During an interview at the March for Life, Alveda King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, explained why African-Americans should support the pro-life position.

“Abortion is a crime against humanity. There has to be a better way of serving women and people than killing our weakest and our youngest, so we must stand for civil rights for the unborn,” King said.

“Abortion has taken a heavy toll on the human community – here in America we’ve had over 60 million legal abortions since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Almost one-third of those babies are African-American babies. So again, as an African-American woman, it is very important for me as an African-American mother and grandmother to stand not only for my rights as a woman but for human rights – abortion is a crime against humanity,” she added.

King also shared her opinion of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s (D-Texas) legislation that would study the issue of reparations for descendants of slaves and explore possible solutions.

“The reparations that we can do for the loss of lives of all the little babies in the womb, including many African-American babies, is to stop the scourge of abortion and to value the sanctity of life,” King said.

“Slavery, sex trafficking, human trafficking and abortion are crimes against humanity. The only way to stop all of the harm that has been done in any of those categories is to begin to value human life,” she added. “Our reparations will begin when we begin to value the child in the womb.”