At the end of December, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder chose to veto a bill that would have permanently banned telemedicine abortions. The practice was already banned from a previous law, but was set to expire at the end of 2018. With Snyder’s veto, the ban has been lifted, and abortionists across the state of Michigan can dispense abortion pills without ever seeing the patient face to face. Right to Life of Michigan slammed the decision, saying, “The abortionist never once examines the patient. This makes it cheaper for Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities to give out the abortion pill without having a doctor on staff, and more dangerous for the woman because of an even starker lack of necessary follow-up care.”
But for Planned Parenthood, lower costs for them equals higher profits, which means a reason to celebrate. On Facebook, former Planned Parenthood President and CEO Cecile Richards began an exchange on December 31st with Lori Carpentier, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan (PPAM) and Planned Parenthood of Michigan (PPMI). Carpentier gleefully noted Snyder’s veto, and then exclaimed, “Let the fun begin!”
Not many people would think of the ability to commit abortions more easily as “fun” — not even most pro-abortion Americans, who want abortion to remain legal, don’t want it to be commonplace and favor heavy restrictions. To the average person, abortion is a tragedy to be avoided at all costs, a sign that a woman has been failed by her partner, her family, her circumstances, and her society. It’s not something to rejoice over. But apparently, at Planned Parenthood, it’s “fun.”
Carpentier previously has faced calls for her resignation after the death of Cree Erwin Sheppard at a Planned Parenthood facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan. “Planned Parenthood of Kalamazoo, under the leadership of Lori Carpentier… has a history of not functioning within basic medical standards and flying under the radar with the apparent cooperation of the State of Michigan,” Lynn Mills of Pro-Life Detroit said. The abortionist responsible for Erwin’s death, Laura Denise Castleman, is suspected to have botched several other abortions, and had a lapsed Drug Control Location License for the Kalamazoo Planned Parenthood facility, a license required by the state of Michigan. Yet Castleman is still employed by Carpentier.
Previously, abortionists were required to conduct an in-person examination before giving them abortion pills. Now, that requirement has been waived, even though abortion pills can be dangerous; at least 22 women have died, while hundreds of others have hemorrhaged so severely that they needed blood transfusions to survive.
Carpentier’s callous comment and past history are, however, simply par for the course when it comes to Planned Parenthood, which claims to care for women while putting them at risk for serious abortion complications.
