Planned Parenthood To Expand Abortion Centers in Texas – Maybe (9/04)

A pro-life organization in central Texas is trying to prevent Planned Parenthood from building 7 new facilities in Houston and Lufkin. “The Coalition for Life has learned that Planned Parenthood of Houston recently sent out a request for architects to help…expand its regional abortion operation,” said Helen Posvar, president of the Houston Coalition for Life. “The expansion project calls for a new 45,000 square foot late-term abortion facility in downtown Houston, a new 4,500 square foot facility in Lufkin, Texas, and five additional 1,200 square foot suburban referral offices,” Posvar explained. The pro-life group is asking local architects and contractors to refuse their services to the largest abortion business in Texas. Posvar pointed to the success of pro-life advocates in Austin where they have held up construction of a new abortion facility by months and no scheduled completion date is in site. Contractors in Austin began a boycott of a PP construction project, delaying the multi-million dollar project. To date, the facility is still not completed, and at least one company that was participating in the project has gone bankrupt. “The project has hit a snag with the second phase because they can’t get concrete. Without concrete the second building cannot move forward,” boycott organizer Chris Danze told an Austin television station.  Joe Pojman, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life, noted that PP’s construction plans in TX, notably in Austin and Houston, are a reaction to recent laws designed to protect women, and that PP appears to be reacting to the Texas Women’s Right to Know Act. “Since January that law requires late-term abortion providers to abide by the same safety standards as other outpatient day surgery centers,” Pojman explained. “None of the licensed abortion providers in Texas currently can meet those safety standards.” “Businesses have a right to know that more than 65 percent of Texans — including their own customers — are opposed to late-term abortions,” Posvar said. “It’s shocking to think that any company would risk its future business by participating in such a project.” [Houston Coalition for Life – http://www.houstoncoalition.com Paul Nowak, LifeNews.com 2Sept04]