Pro-Abortion
Group Partners With Local Library System
By Michael L. Betsch
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
November 20, 2002
(CNSNews.com)
- A financial agreement between Planned Parenthood of Central
Texas and the City of Waco has enabled the pro-abortion group
to incorporate its agenda into the local public library system.
The
Planned Parenthood library also warns patrons that it can
deny access "to anyone who has participated in protests,"
against the group.
Planned
Parenthood of Central Texas distributed an Oct. 28 flier inviting
the local community to an open house at its Audre Rapoport
Library in Waco.
The
invitation obtained by CNSNews.com stated that the pro-abortion
group's library is now a "branch of the Waco-McLennan
County Public Library System."
Larry
Holze, a spokesman for the City of Waco, said Planned Parenthood
of Central Texas is paying the city an unspecified amount
of money less than $10,000 to include its collection of "women's
health care" materials into the Waco-McLennan County
Library System's computer catalog system.
Prior
to the partnership, Holze said the health information had
not been available to library patrons.
Planned
Parenthood of Central Texas Executive Director Pam Smallwood
announced on Nov. 8 that her organization's "specialized
collection of books, periodicals, pamphlets, videos, curricula
and teaching aides" has been added to the local library's
system.
Smallwood
said the library partnership would make Planned Parenthood's
"valuable resources available to parents, students, educators
and anyone else sincerely interested in increasing his or
her knowledge about many subjects."
'Women's
Health' and More
While
Planned Parenthood is best known for its pro-abortion services,
the group has expanded its sphere of advocacy in recent years.
An
Internet search of the Waco-McLennan County Library System's
online card catalog revealed that titles available through
the Audre Rapoport Library contain not only pro-abortion material
but pro-homosexuality content as well.
Some
of the titles returned using specific keywords included 'Mandatory
Motherhood: The True Meaning of 'Right to Life;' 'How Would
You Feel If Your Dad Was Gay;' 'Daddy's Roommate;' 'The Complete
Guide to Sexual Fulfillment: Your Questions Answered;' and
'Going All the Way: Teenage Girls' Tales of Sex, Romance,
and Pregnancy.'
Holze
said the Waco-McLennan County Library System does not endorse
or promote any of the materials contained in the Planned Parenthood
library from which the city is collecting money.
He
also denied that the Audre Rapoport Library was a library
"branch" within the county's system, even though
Planned Parenthood's flyer contradicts his position.
According
to Holze, the Audre Rapoport Library is not an official library
branch because it neither employs civil servants nor receives
taxpayer funds to support its operation.
Instead,
he said Planned Parenthood of Central Texas has agreed to
pay the city an undisclosed amount each year for the privilege
of posting the contents of its library collection on the city's
computer catalog system.
Despite
questions about the library's status, Holze admitted that
any Waco-McLennan County Library patron could borrow items
contained in Planned Parenthood's collection.
"All
we're saying is the fact that here are the materials that
are available," Holze said. "We do not own them.
We do not control them. It is a resource only," he said.
"The
city has no liability or responsibility from a financial standpoint
in this at all; it's not costing the citizens of Waco or McLennan
County," Holze said. "They have absolutely no financial
involvement and so, therefore, the control of [Planned Parenthood's
library] is limited based on the fact that [the City of Waco]
does not own it either," he said.
Public
Library Off-Limits to Some
While
the city has no financial involvement with the Planned Parenthood
library, certain local residents will not be allowed to have
any involvement with it depending on their point of view.
John
Pisciotta, a spokesman for Greater Waco Respect Life, said
Planned Parenthood of Central Texas is promoting its library
as an official "branch" of the local library system
in order to legitimize the group's presence in the community.
But
unlike other public libraries, Pisciotta accused the Audre
Rapoport Library of selectively denying entrance to pro-life
citizens suspected of opposing Planned Parenthood's pro-abortion
agenda.
For
example, he said several pro-life women were denied entrance
to the Audre Rapoport Library's open house on Oct. 28 because
those women had been protesting against Planned Parenthood
earlier that day.
"Generally,
as a taxpaying citizen that's never broken a law, I can go
into any public [library] branch that I want to go into,"
Pisciotta said. "But [Planned Parenthood of Central Texas]
would deny us access to this."
He
fears Planned Parenthood's successful and uncontested integration
into the Waco-McLennan County Library System might spark a
national trend.
"It's
really breaking new ground," Pisciotta said. "If
they can get in our public library without any stink about
it, well, who's the next public library that they're going
to get into," he asked.
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