An open letter to Councilwoman-at-Large Blondell Reynolds Brown

By Patricia Shelton
Special to The CS&T

Philadelphia is currently infamous for being the murder capital of the United States, and now comes this Councilmatic Resolution urging Philadelphia to adopt the status of a pro-choice city that supports “ women’s reproductive rights and freedom” and defends “the right to choose a legal and safe abortion as a final but critical option for women.”

I am sure that Councilwoman-at-Large Blondell Reynolds Brown considers the resolution she introduced to City Council last week to be an enlightened, forward-thinking proposal.

Five years ago, I might have agreed with her. Sadly, I now know better.

I know that Planned Parenthood, which helped Brown draft the resolution, is not the humanitarian organization it presents itself to be. I know that it is probably staffed by well-intentioned, although misguided, employees.

I know that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the single largest abortion provider in the United States, and that Planned Parenthood tends to push women into abortions, and provides 34 times more abortions than adoption referrals, and 10 times more abortions than pre-natal services — and that it generates enormous amounts of revenue each year providing abortions-on-demand in mostly minority neighborhoods.

I wonder if Ms. Brown knows about its founder, Margaret Sanger, who was an admirer of Adolf Hitler, and about Planned Parenthood and the “Negro Project.”

It was reported that Ms. Brown said: “At the end of the day, we decide what we want the city to look like and be about.”

Please do not decide for me, Ms. Brown. Although this resolution passed City Council by a 9-to-8 vote, its passage does not automatically represent the opinions of a majority of Philadelphians. I am all for women’s rights and reproductive healthcare, but killing unborn children is a lie dressed up like truth. I urge the community to reject the “pro-choice city” label that has been thrust upon us.

I understand pro-choice arguments. To wit: What about parents in poverty, drug-addicted parents, and unwanted babies? Who will take care of them?
We will. The community will. I would rather commit to caring for these children than to killing them.

Now we not only lead the country in murders, but we are also supposed to take pride in murdering unborn babies under the guise of defending women’s rights. Shame on us! Human life is sacred from its beginning to its natural end.

I do believe in being pro-choice — that is, pro-choice before conception. It is very easy to be pro-choice. It is much harder to be pro-life. Let’s not take the easy way out.

Patricia Shelton is a member of the Archdiocesan Voices for Life Ad hoc Committee, a member of the Pro-Life Union of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southwest Philadelphia Committee, and the former director of the Archdiocese’s Office for Black Catholics.