Why does Occupy Wall St. support Big Abortion?

by Ben Johnson

January 26, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - It seems the definition of an Occupy Wall Street protester is someone who believes every businessman will lie, cheat, skirt health and safety regulations, mislead public officials, and harm or even kill his customers in order to make a profit – except for an abortionist.

On Saturday evening demonstrators from Occupy D.C., the local affiliate of the Occupy Wall Street movement, harassed the teenagers at the March for Life Youth Rally. Jumping out of their seats on cue, they waved flimsy paper signs and chanted phrases like, “Not the church. Not the state. Women must decide their fate.” They shouted down the pro-life presenters until the first sign of security guards, at which time the occupation beat a hasty retreat.

Intrigued, I followed them out to find out more. When one of the crowd said they were with the anti-corporate protest group, I wanted to learn why they chose this target. “What does this have to do with Wall Street?” I asked the young man. “When people think of Occupy Wall Street, they think of Wall Street – economics, income distribution, financial issues. What does abortion have to do with capitalism?”

I anticipated a number of answers, but not the one he gave me. 

He responded that the group cared about economics, but “this is an important issue, too. We believe women should decide what they do. Not the church. Not the state. You can’t get pregnant.” (In fairness, neither could he.) Another voice in the crowd said something about protecting funding for Planned Parenthood.

Perhaps sensing these answers did not help his cause, another young man intervened. “He’s going to edit this to make you look bad,” he said. After bumping into me, he snapped, “Don’t touch me!” After showing I was not intimidated, he slunk away. Ultimately, so did all his compatriots.

Their intimidation and singularly inarticulate rationale raises big questions: Why was this anti-capitalist movement agitating for the top one percent? Why does Occupy Wall Street support Big Abortion?

The American Life League’s Stop Planned Parenthood (STOPP) International has released a new report showing that 27 percent of the CEOs at Planned Parenthood offices have a base salary of $200,000 a year or more, not including bonuses or other forms of incentive pay. The national organization’s president, Cecile Richards, makes more than $350,000, placing her safely in the top one percent of income earners. Occupy Wall Street may be the 99 percent, but its beneficiaries are not.

OWS claims to oppose taxpayer bailouts of huge corporations. Yet Planned Parenthood is a $1 billion a year industry that received $487.4 million in taxpayer funds in 2010. These young people protested, in part, to “protect” its federal subsidy.

Then there is the question of the abortionists’ business practices. Whatever the merits of the movement’s other targets, the abortion industry embodies the worst corporate behavior OWS could imagine in its most feverish nightmare. Abortionists lie about their service. (“It’s safe, legal, and rare.”) They mislead women about the unborn child whose limbs they will sever. (“It’s just a blob of tissue.”) They intimidate and sometimes force women to have abortions. (For but one example, read the allegations against Alberto Hodari). They often injure and occasionally kill their unsuspecting patients due to lax regulations and lack of enforcement. With the aid of a compliant media, they cover up the long-term physical and psychological damage their service causes their clients, who are disproportionately poor and minority women just as its racist founder intended.

Despite the damage they do, their lobby peddles influence in both parties and can deny one party’s presidential nomination to any politician who dares to question the desirability of its product – or whether American taxpayers should be compelled to pay for it.

They are the merchants of death who have exploited human suffering for their private, temporal gain.

If OWS protesters wanted to stand with the powerless, they would have marched to the Supreme Court on Monday alongside Atheists for Life and others across the political, religious, and ideological spectrum who understand the fundamentals of biological science and human rights. Until they confront the reality of the innocents their activism harms and the atrocities it aids, they will continue to share the tactics and the moral sensibilities of the brownshirts.