{"id":129,"date":"2003-05-20T14:02:31","date_gmt":"2003-05-20T22:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2003\/05\/20\/planned-parenthood-and-public-libraries-dont-mix\/"},"modified":"2003-05-20T14:02:31","modified_gmt":"2003-05-20T22:02:31","slug":"planned-parenthood-and-public-libraries-dont-mix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=129","title":{"rendered":"Planned Parenthood and public libraries don't mix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shonda at Diotima<\/a> links to an article <\/a>about a Texas Planned Parenthood which formed an arrangement with the local library system. According to Shonda, “Planned Parenthood was banning pro-lifers from the library.”<\/p>\n

Of course, that sentence isn’t even close to the truth.<\/p>\n

The deal was, Planned Parenthood made its private collection (about a thousand books and other materials related to reproductive health) available to public library patrons in Waco, Texas, in exchange for access to the library’s cataloging software. Planned Parenthood paid the Waco library “a few hundred dollars a year” for the arrangement.<\/p>\n

The problem was, Planned Parenthood doesn’t let pro-life zealots into their offices, for security reasons.<\/p>\n

I don’t use the term “zealots” generically, but as a specific description of the particular folks suing the library. Here’s a quote from Rusty Thomas<\/a>, head of Elijah Ministries and the first of the pro-lifers to file suit against the Waco library:<\/p>\n

“By granting them this status, the city of Waco gives credence and legitimacy to an odious organization – one that slays the unborn for blood money, promotes a racist, genocidal agenda, spreads immorality and provides a safe haven for pedophiles who abuse our children.”<\/div>\n

Planned Parenthood is reasonable to keep Thomas – who, in the incident he’s sueing over, showed up at Planned Parenthood with a mob of supporters – out of their offices. If hate-filled extremists like Thomas are let in, there’s no way to protect Planned Parenthood’s staff and clients from being shot or bombed by pro-life zealots; at the very least, there’s every reason to worry that the book collection would be defaced or destroyed.<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood’s collection was never part of the library, and the Planned Parenthood offices were never considered a branch of the library. Nevertheless, the basis of the suit is that Planned Parenthood’s paying the Waco library turned Planned Parenthood into a branch of the library, and therefore it is claimed that pro-lifers have been banned from the public library. That it isn’t even remotely true doesn’t stop pro-lifers from making the claim.<\/p>\n

“I do feel irritated they keep saying it’s a branch of the library system,” said [chairwoman of the Waco- McLennan County library Betty] Crook in an interview with the Waco Tribune-Herald <\/i>last fall. “It isn’t. The contract said it was specifically not to be a joint venture. There are no city employees working there. It’s just a way residents can have access to some of those materials.”<\/div>\n

Planned Parenthood and the Waco Library are, understandably, severing their relationship. Which is probably for the best – it’s a mistake for libraries to associate themselves with any political cause but, well, libraries.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Shonda’s biased sum-up suggests how the pro-life mythmaking machine will remember this incident. Years from now, pro-lifers will probably be whispering to themselves about that time the Evil Babykillers attempted to ban all pro-lifers from public libraries. Oy..<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shonda at Diotima links to an article about a Texas Planned Parenthood which formed an arrangement with the local library system. According to Shonda, “Planned Parenthood was banning pro-lifers from the library.” Of course, that sentence isn’t even close to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-site-and-admin-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}