Christians Challenge Civic Leaders on Commendation of Abortion Profiteer
by James L. Lambert
February 3, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Earlier this week a group of Christian activists confronted their elected city officials, requesting an explanation for those officials' unanimous endorsement of a public proclamation honoring the proprietor of Planned Parenthood clinics in the area.
In an open session before the San Diego City Council, a group of Christians on Tuesday voiced their outrage over a vote taken last December by Council members to approve item S-408. The initiative -- which had been passed unanimously by the Council members and the mayor -- proclaimed December 5, 2005, as "Mark Salo Day" in the City of San Diego.
Salo is the retiring president & CEO of the San Diego/Imperial County affiliate of Planned Parenthood, or PPSD. One of the nation's largest and most prosperous abortion clinic affiliates of Planned Parenthood, PPSD operates 19 separate clinics within its geographical area and has an annual budget in excess of $33 million. In her speech commending Salo, San Diego City Councilwoman Toni Atkins said that "last year 210,000 patients received exceptional care" from Salo's PPSD clinics. Atkins, once a director of an abortion clinic herself and an influential voice in the homosexual community, continued by saying that "one out of every four San Diego County women have used PP services at some point."
The Christian activists were at San Diego's City Hall this week to express their outrage over the proclamation that honored Salo. Council chamber rules allow for non-agenda public comments prior to the official commencement of the scheduled weekly sessions of the city's elected body. James Hartline, a former homosexual who describes himself as a Christian activist, and others used the opportunity to blast the conservative members of the Council who supported the unanimous initiative honoring the retiring PPSD official. Hartline was the primary spokesman for the two dozen citizens who came to criticize the Council's December 5 vote.
Hartline was particularly upset with three Council members -- Councilmen Tony Young, Brian Maienschein, and Jim Madaffer -- who were elected, in large part, by a citizens from the Christian community. In December, these council members joined the liberal members of the Council (Atkins, Donna Frye, and Scott Peters) along with newly elected Mayor Jerry Sanders in voting to honor Salo. It was Sanders' first day in office.
In his address to the City Council, Hartline said that "political leaders who have radical and extremely controversial agendas can honor whom they will on their own time." But, he added, "on matters such as abortion, where there is so much disagreement, so much pain, so much controversy and so much death, it is a disgrace that the City Council would use these chambers as a platform to promote the radical and destructive ideology of the abortion industry."
Another speaker, attorney Mark Ginella, reminded the Council members: "Let's be honest -- these are not health clinics," he stated. "Mr. Salo is being praised for opening and making more profitable Planned Parenthood abortion clinics. These are not health centers because they are treating women for sickness and disease. These women are not sick or dying -- they go in as healthy young pregnant women and they come out without their child."
In January, Councilman Young was pictured on the front page of San Diego's Christian Examiner with three high-profile pastors. Two ministers from his district were disturbed that Young choose to honor Salo. Bishop George McKinney of St. Stephen's Church in Christ said that "we should not honor people who [participate in] aborting innocent children." Rev. Adlai Mack from Christians United in the Word of God suggested that the Council "is either ignorant of what he [Salo] is or they are merely a chorus of magpies!" When contacted for the Council member's response, his office offered none.
Councilman Maienschein spoke in 2005 to the Mission Valley Christian Fellowship as he was honored for his stand on protecting the Mt. Soledad Cross from its removal by atheist lawyer James McElroy, who in the past has represented PPSD in cases against pro-life advocates. After numerous calls to the Councilman's office, one aide finally offered "no comment" when asked to explain Maienschein's vote.
An effort to obtain comments from Mayor Sanders met with no success.
Hartline, Ginella, and other local pro-family advocates agreed that in the coming weeks they will concentrate on informing as many as possible in the faith community of the actions of the Council members.
James L. Lambert, a frequent contributor to AgapePress, is the author of Porn in America (Huntington House), which can be purchased through the American Family Association. He is a licensed real-estate mortgage loan sales agent and can be contacted through his website.
