After decades of abortion advocates demanding religion “stay out of women’s bodies,” Planned Parenthood has now decided religion is a clever way to market their political and moral agenda. In an album on social media titled: “People of Faith Support Birth Control Access,” Planned Parenthood Action, the fundraising and activist side of PP, decided to create memes for major religions, ostensibly meant to be shared by members of those faiths.
There’s a Baptist one, a Catholic one, a generic Christian one, an Episcopal one, an evangelical one, a Jewish one, a Methodist one, a Protestant one, a Muslim one, a person of faith one, and the one that brought this campaign to my attention — a Lutheran one.
PP ironically says as part of the materials for this campaign that “This attack is the latest example of a sustained campaign to impose negative and narrowly held religious perspectives into the private lives of Americans.’ – Planned Parenthood’s Clergy Advocacy Board.”
Planned Parenthood Action, the driving force behind this ad series, self-describes as: “A nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization, the Action Fund engages in educational and electoral activity, including legislative advocacy, voter education, and grassroots organizing. With your support, we work to elect pro-choice candidates at every level and pass laws and policies that support women’s health.”
The responses from faithful Christians to these ads have been loud and powerful. Average people, pastors, mothers, parents, an children, all are coming together to tell PP that they’re not okay with the names of their churches being used in this way.
Responses are still pouring in. Here are the best current responses to Planned Parenthood Action’s attempts to use religion to fundraise.
Catholics, too, took to the comments section in droves to decry this marketing move.
Usually, I recommend avoiding the comments section online. They can be full of horrible examples of how awful people can be to each other when a screen separates them. The hundreds and hundreds of comments on these posts, however, tell a different comments story. They’re full of people standing up for their faith, for others who can’t defend themselves, and contain words of encouragement and hope. PP Action might have been trying to show that religious people can support their cause, but they’ve demonstrated the exact opposite.
