The fight for life has experienced great success in recent years. Surveys show more Americans are pro-life than at any point since Roe v. Wade, pro-life policies are advancing at the state level across the country – led by Kansas – and a pro-life majority on the U.S. Supreme Court is within reach. Credit for these successes belongs to many, but the role crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) have played in creating a culture of life cannot be understated.
By providing critical health services to mothers in a safe, loving and non-judgmental environment, CPCs enable women facing unexpected pregnancy to make wise, informed decisions. And, by extending love to both the pre-born child and her mother, CPCs demonstrate that the concern for life is not limited to the pre-born.
Abortion activists understand this and have started to attack CPCs. This disgusting hit-piece from so-called comedian Samantha Bee was widely shared on social media last year. Just last month, one of Kansas City’s most effective CPCs was attacked.
Advice & Aid has provided medical and counseling services to women in the Kansas City area since 1983. (Full disclosure: my father serves on the organization’s board of directors.) Advice & Aid offers help to more than 3,000 patients annually, including everything from emotional support and pregnancy educational programs to pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and STI testing and treatment. When the sales team from local radio station 96.5 “The Buzz” contacted the group, it seemed like a good opportunity; the station’s listener demographics matched the audience of those most likely to experience an unplanned pregnancy.
An ad was crafted and began to run, but it didn’t take long for Planned Parenthood’s Kansas branch to respond. Within days, the ads were abruptly stopped, and Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Communications Director, was invited to conduct a lengthy, fawning interview with 96.5’s drive-time radio personality during which numerous lies were told. (Learn more from The Sentinel.)
Requests by Advice & Aid to correct the misinformation were ignored, as was an invitation to the station to visit the clinic and learn firsthand about their work.
Here’s the thing: We believe businesses have a right to operate based on their values, even when those values are wrong. Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A have that right, so does Starbucks and The Buzz. But customers ought to know when businesses have a pro-abortion bias and “vote with their wallets” or, in this case, their ears.
Here’s what you can do to support Advice & Aid:
First, call The Buzz and tell them you don’t appreciate their abortion advocacy and the lies they told about a nonprofit organization trying to help women in crisis. Tell them they lost a listener. Their main number is (913) 744-3600 or the online contact form is here.
You can also leave a note on their Facebook page.
Second, send a note to Ruth Tisdale and the team at Advice & Aid and tell them how much you appreciate their work. (If you’re not in the Kansas City area, learn more about your local crisis pregnancy center and see how you can support them.)
Third, you can support Kansas Family Voice of Kansas. Advice & Aid is focused on helping women in crisis, not politics. We are allies with different roles to play in the fight for life. Laws, like the recently updated Disclose Act we helped pass, influence how groups like Advice & Aid operates.
Sincerely,
Eric