Montgomery County Council Puts Lipstick on a Rattlesnake

In the January 27th issue of the Gazette (page B-1 of the Gaithersburg edition and linked here), we read that Leventhal et al "amended" their "gag the pro-life centers" bill.  But.. did they really??

The very first sentence of this article is most revelatory of the Council's dubious motives.  It reads and I quote, "Anti-abortion pregnancy centers no longer are singled out under a bill being considered by the Montgomery County Council that requires pregnancy centers to warn women if they are not being advised by medical professionals."  Note that it says that the pregnancy centers "no longer are singled out."   That adverbial phrase "no longer" makes quite plain that at one time, they most certainly were singled out, and intentionally so.  I believe they still are, knowing this cabal.  Also note the use of this word "warn".  When I think of that word, I think of danger.  There's no danger posed by the pro-life centers.  All women who've walkded into the pregnancy centers in this county have walked out by their own power.  The same cannot be said for this county's abortion centers.  I of course speak of the Potomac Family Planning Center where Jennifer Hallner died as a result of the lack of proper medical equipment to revive her.  Dr. Earl McLeod was disciplined.  I wonder if part of the discipline required that he post a sign warning women of his chequered track record.  I suspect not.

Now here's a curious paragraph.  "Montgomery County has four anti-abortion pregnancy centers that originally were targeted by the bill, including the Rockville Pregnancy Center, which is a licensed medical clinic. The Rockville center would be excluded from both versions of the bill."  Besides the clear admission that the pro-life centers were targeted, the two sentences contradict each other.  The first sentence says that Rockville Pregnancy Center was in the Council's cross-hairs.  The second says that it wasn't.  During the hearings, there was considerable squirming about that question, particularly on the part of Trachtenberg.  You can hear some of that on previous posting of this blog.

So why does the Council want to pass this bill at all?  Jackie Stippich, director of Shady Grove Pregnancy Center, correctly states that no complaint has ever been lodged by a client - a real client that is, and not just some NARAL volunteer who obviously has her own bias.  Speaking of bias, plenty of it has been demonstrated on this blog.  Leventhal's statement regarding objections to this bill is a dismissive and condescending "They resent it."  Well, let's take a look at Leventhal's behavior during the December 1st hearings.  Please go to http://restore-dc-catholicism.blogspot.com/2010/01/continuation-of-reports-on-montgomery.html and see how he blatantly attempts to twist the testimony of a pregnancy center volunteer.  Earlier in the evening he pooh-poohed the idea of touring a pro-life center, stating that he wouldn't be presented with a fair picture of how one operates.  In other words, he called these good people liars.  But perhaps it is he who is not being up front about his own arguable conflicts of interests.  Quite frankly, the Gazette article is curiously silent about that matter as well.  However, let me elaborate below.

The Maryland NARAL puts on a fundraising gala every October, usually in Rockville.  Their lists of sponsors is online here.  There are lots of familiar names, including those of George Leventhal and Duchy Tractenberg.  Moreover, Tractenberg, who originally introduced the bill, is a past president of Maryland NOW.  Ladies and gentlemen, can we say "conflict of interest big time"?  I daresay we can.

This so-called "amended" bill is scheduled for a vote.  Please continue to contact the council here and tell them "NO".

Protect Montgomery County Pregnancy Centers! Act Now!

Our efforts to save the pregnancy centers of Montgomery County MD from a draconian attack by pro-abortion members of the County Council are underway.  We will need the fullest participation and cooperation possible from every pro-life person in order to succeed.

The text of the bill has been updated slightly, so please read this; of course we would expect amendments throughout the process.   The Maryland Citizens for Responsible Government, who led last year's fight against granting special rights to "transgendered" individuals, has developed an excellent, two-sided flyer that you can use to educate your friends about this imporant matter.  Download it, print it, email it to your contact list, distribute it - just get the word out.

Let's not put our heads in the sand when it comes to stating quite plainly that the Montgomery County Council is composed of rabid pro-abortion afficiandos.  Maryland NARAL conducts its annual fundraiser in October in Rockville.  In its 2009 List of Sponsors, five of the nine councilmembers are listed; see for yourselves (by the way - Ike Leggett is there, too).   Duchy Trachtenberg, who introduced the bill, is up to her eyeballs in her entanglements with the National Organization of Women (NOW).  This past June, Terry O'Neill, Tractenberg's Chief of Staff, was elected national president of NOW  Upon her election, O'Neill did resign her position with Trachtenberg.  By the way - while O'Neill apparently saw a contradiction in occupying both positions, such compunctions didn't seem to bother Trachtenberg - at least if I read this NOW webpage correctly.  It states that in January 2007, Trachtenberg was both the at-large Councilperson AND president of Maryland NOW!  We now examine this article, written by Dana Beyer, a current staff member of Trachtenberg's; in it, Dr Beyer denigrates good people (us) who dared to exercise our rights as citizens to combat the transgender-rights bill.  It looks like I learned something new.  Whereas I was quite aware of Beyer's affiliation with Equality Maryland, I was unaware, until a few minutes ago, that the good doctor was "Maryland NOW Action Vice President."  Like I said, the entanglements are many and dense.

I could go on and on, but I think we can see that most of the council has vested interests in seeing this bill passed.  Their duplicity is plain.  Even the Washington Post, a newspaper that can usually be counted upon to jump on the pro-abortion bandwagon, took issue with this bill and made plain its opinion that it should be defeated.  The Post takes issue with the inherent duplicity of the bill when it writes, "the proposed disclosure is too cryptic to be an effective alarm bell for many women and yet is suspect because it singles out pregnancy centers while absolving abortion clinics of any disclosure requirements regarding adoption or parenting options."  They've got that right!

Again, please distribute that flyer.  Contact the council (we'd suggest doing so by addressing Phil Andrews, the Council president; all communications to him will be diseminated to the other councilmembers).  Attend the hearings on December 1st; and consider testifying.  Write letters to the editors of newspapers.  And above all, please pray!  We'll keep you posted.

Text of Montgomery County Council Bill to Coddle Pro-Abort Donors

As promised in yesterday's post, here is a preliminary text of the bill that the pro-abortion lackeys on the Montgomery County Council is going to foist on the pregnancy centers. They make no attempt to disguise the contempt and resentment that their task masters of NOW and NARAL demand of them. If this isn't a clear violation of their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution, I don't know what is. I suppose they're just following the leads of the other pro-abortion puppets who rammed through the vote on HR 3962 in Congress this past Saturday.

It appears that they just issued a press release about this legislative slop. Of course, Trachtenberg introduced it. Notice what's missing from this press release! Ladies and gentlemen, do you see any hint of disclosure about Trachtenberg's relationship with NOW? Neither do I! And then Trachtenberg has the gall to falsely accuse cpcs of providing "misleading information."

Trachtenberg pouts that "cpcs often discourage women from seeking contraceptives or abortions." Of course, when that happens, the abortion mills lose money (gasp!). That might cause them to reduce their donations to NOW (Trachtenberg's buddies). Horrors!

Please contact the council asap about this matter. Ladies and gentlemen, each and every one of them is up for reelection next year. Let them know that their complete disregard for the babies will cost them your votes!