The following is a brief testimony given by Aimee Murphy (LMJ's Executive Director) at the June 22, 2015 Pittsburgh City School Board public hearing, in light of their motion in February 2015 to contract with Planned Parenthood for their middle school sex education.
I'm so grateful to speak to you all today! My name is Aimee Murphy, and I'm a Pittsburgh resident, and alumna of Carnegie Mellon University. I am also the founder and Executive Director of Life Matters Journal, a local non-profit dedicated to the abolition of all aggressive violence. We are non-sectarian, non-partisan, and most importantly - a consistent voice in opposition to the idea that certain lives are expendable for “the common good.”
This mission of nonviolence is why I am here today. I stand here, as a feminist who believes in the equality of every human being,.. to urgently request that the Pittsburgh School Board rescind their vote to contract with Planned Parenthood for their sex ed programs.
I, for one, am actually a very ardent proponent of holistic sexual education. So why don't I believe that we should be contracting with Planned Parenthood for our sex ed?
Let's try a mental exercise: Imagine a center that provided low-cost childcare, but they also killed at least one of the toddlers in their care every day. Would we contract with them for our after-school daycare program?
No! We should not be contracting with an organization that kills human beings – much less an organization that includes killing as part of its profit model.
But Planned Parenthood performs abortions; and because basic science reveals that each human being's life begins at conception, it follows that every “successful” abortion kills a human being.
When we contract with an organization that advocates for and takes part in the killing of 897 pre-born American children every day, we too are complicit in the attitude that will sacrifice children for convenience, we too are complicit in the blood money given to an organization that kills our pre-born human brethren, we too are complicit in death.
According to their own 2013 Annual Report, 94% of all Planned Parenthood's recorded pregnancy services were abortions. And since 2009, Planned Parenthood has performed over 1.9 million abortions.
Can you imagine 1.9 million human beings? It's a hard number to fathom. Think about it this way: fill PNC Park for 50 home games. Every one of the 38,362 seats filled, 50 times over.
You and I agree that sex education is necessary for the development and education of our youth, but we as a city need to take a clear position that we cannot and should not stand complicit in contract with an organization that kills human beings. To do so is contrary to equality; it is contrary to justice; it is contrary to peace.
I stand before you as a young feminist, as an LGBT youth, as a Christian, and as a leader in the movement for nonviolence. I stand before you as a fellow Pittsburgher, and I ask you to repeal the vote that allows Planned Parenthood to provide sex education to our children. I ask you to repeal the vote that contracts with an organization that deals in death.
_________ Sources Cited
Planned Parenthood: an organization that includes killing as part of its profit model --
<http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/07/02/see-the-alleged-planned-parenthood-award-that-might-make-anti-abortion-advocates-feel-sick-to-their-stomachs/>
<http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/22/planned-parenthood-has-abortion-quotas-says-former-clinic-director/2/>
Planned Parenthood: 94% of all pregnancy outcome services performed are abortions --
<http://issuu.com/actionfund/docs/annual_report_final_proof_12.16.14_/0>
Can be found on page 18 of the annual report: of all services related to pregnancy outcome, adoption referrals made up 1,880 services, prenatal services made up 18,684 services, and abortions made up 327,653 services.
Total pregnancy outcome services = 348,217.
To get percentage of all pregnancy outcome services that were abortions =>
100 x (327,653/348,217) = 94.09%
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