Carolyn Zolbe has been interviewed by City Paper before. “I was in a bright red coat,” she says. Is that your trademark? I ask. “That’s my winter coat!” she says, laughing.

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Dick Retta’s been out in front of the Planned Parenthood on 16th Street NW since 8:30 this morning. He’s here every Wednesday and Saturday. “That’s when they do the abortions,” he says. Today’s pretty quiet—when I rode up, Retta was the only person outside the building. “I think they’re doing a training today,” he says. The training is purportedly about providing health care for women, but’s its really teaching women how to murder their children, he says.

Read More “Meet a Pro-Life Protester: Dick Retta” »

Erick Anderson of Ladyblog, who admits that she “despises Planned Parenthood,” is a little bit ticked that abortion providers have submitted a proposal to the Obama-Biden transition team asking for 1.5 billion dollars. Then, she equates Planned Parenthood’s cause to her recent European vacation:

I guess the abortion industry thought they’d jump on the bailout wagon too. Why not? Come to think of it, I spent way too much when I went to Europe this year…what was I thinking? Can the government take pity on me and refund all those lost Euros?

Thinky parts of brain whirring and whirring, and still can’t come up with explanation for this analogy. Do women’s health centers now double as romantic, fiscally irresponsible luxury destinations? Or was one of the culturally rich activities on Anderson’s trip the extermination of millions of innocent unborns? Oooh, don’t make me choose!

According to Stephanie Simon at the Wall Street Journal, anti-abortion advocates want the government to stop sending Planned Parenthood any money because they’re already raking in the spoils of abortion whilst floating in a decadent federally funded sea of caviar and placenta. Writes Simon:

Abortion opponents are pressing state and local governments to stop sending taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood, arguing that the nonprofit group has plenty of cash and shouldn’t be granted scarce public funds at a time of economic crisis. . . . the new lobbying effort, backed by conservative Christian groups such as the Family Research Council, focuses more on economic than moral concerns. The campaign paints Planned Parenthood as a wealthy organization that doesn’t need taxpayer help. Planned Parenthood reported record revenue and a $115 million budget surplus last year, and it is building a network of elegant health centers to attract middle-class clients.

It’s just like those hoity-toity pro-choicers to vacation at “elegant” abortion health spas while everyone else in this country can’t afford to feed the children they’ve already birthed. If anyone knows of a particularly elegant clinic in the area, let me know—I’m currently planning my holiday vacation.

Pro-life advocates expressed outrage last week at reports that Planned Parenthood of Indiana would be offering gift certificates for health care this holiday season. Then, pro-choice advocates expressed outrage at the outrage. From Ann at Feministing:

Conservatives are freaking out because Planned Parenthood in Indiana is offering gift certificates. Granted, a pap smear is not the most exciting Christmas gift I can think of, but it sure is practical. Oh, wait—you mean they’re claiming these are going to be used for abortions? As if that’s all Planned Parenthood does? I’m shocked.

This is a common response to pro-life folks who protest outside women’s health centers, shaming all who enter—hey, not everybody here is getting an abortion. It is tempting to try to explain this to the dude trailing you on your way into the clinic, shaking rosaries in one hand and ultrasounds in the other: I’m going to Planned Parenthood for convenient and affordable lady part care, not to abort no fetus! At the same time, this argument can be destructive to those women who are going to Planned Parenthood to have abortions.

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Capitol Pill is a new feature which tracks contraception access in D.C. pharmacies.

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Planned Parenthood’s Schumacher Health Center, 1108 16th St. NW.

This 16th St. clinic, a stone’s throw from the White House, is the area’s leading source for affordable women’s health care, birth control, and abortion services. For the same reasons, the center falls victim to the largest unofficial barrier to contraception access: The “sidewalk helper.”

Roshan Anthonypillai, who fills a weekday 8 to 9 a.m. shift at the clinic, is dedicated to helping women who come to Planned Parenthood seeking to terminate their pregnancies. But Anthonypillai works as a different sort of abortion counselor; he is a representative of “40 Days For for Life,” a national anti-abortion campaign that has organized activists in 170 cities to hold vigil outside abortion clinics from Sept. 24 through Nov. 2 this year. Every day before work, Anthonypillai stands on the sidewalk outside the clinic, holding rosary beads and guarding a few trinkets arranged at the trunk of a tree: a small makeshift crucifix and a paper bag luminary adorned with a red cross.

“By standing here, I think I’ve convinced two to three women not to have an abortion,” says Anthonypillai, a 35-year-old Ashburn resident and a Catholic. Volunteers report those numbers back to 40 Days, which keeps a tally of saved lives; the campaign claims to have stopped as many as 268 abortions nationwide this year. Many more women, Anthonypillai says, have made the wrong choice. “Every young woman that I’ve seen, personally, coming in here, is coming to get an abortion,” he says of the clinic, which also offers gynecological exams, STD testing, and birth control. The clinic, meanwhile, keeps tabs on people like Anthonypillai: It staffs escorts to shield patients from protesters and sends visitors through a metal detector before letting them into the waiting room, where no cell phone use is permitted.

A little after 9 a.m. brings the changing of the abortion clinic guard; Anthonypillai hands off duties to Sarah Smith Bartel, a Hyattsville graduate student who arrives with her two daughters, Clare, 4, and Kate, 2. The girls take turns sipping from a thermos of hot chocolate as their mother explains her position. I’m trying to offer these women the right choice, one that recognizes the true femininity and essence of womanhood,” says Smith Bartel. “And, of course, preserves the life of the unborn child.” But though Anthonypillai is happy to head off to work, he says he has no plans to suspend the vigil come Election Day. “I’ll still be here, praying,” he says.

KNOCK-UP RISK: Depends on the shift.

Last month, the Bush administration proposed a new rule from the Department of Health and Human Services. According to a New York Times op-ed penned by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, the little switcheroo would require that “any health care entity that receives federal financing—whether it’s a physician in private practice, a hospital or a state government—certify in writing that none of its employees are required to assist in any way with medical services they find objectionable.” Write Rodham and Richards:

Laws that have been on the books for some 30 years already allow doctors to refuse to perform abortions. The new rule would go further, ensuring that all employees and volunteers for health care entities can refuse to aid in providing any treatment they object to, which could include not only abortion and sterilization but also contraception.

Following the rule’s official announcement is a 30-day comment period before the rule goes into effect. Only two days remain in that period, which ends September 25. Planned Parenthood is urging those opposed to the rule to send a form letter to the Department of Health and Human Services voicing their opinion on the rule.

Letter after the jump.

Read More “Next Two Days: Complain About Bush” »

An update on the e-mail chain suggesting that supporters of women’s rights make donations to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin’s name: A spokesperson from the Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington confirms that PP is aware of the e-mail ruse, but claims “not it” on originating the idea. “It’s not us,” the spokesperson said. “The e-mail is anonymous; we don’t know who’s behind it.” The PP rep did say that donations to the organization have increased since the e-mail began circulating, but can’t confirm where the money’s coming from—or how many faux “Sarah Palin” benefactors they’ve seen.

Another person with access to the Internet is horrified at the prospect of Sarah Palin ever being close to being their president. But instead of getting mad, they’re pressing “Fwd”!

“We may have thought we wanted a woman on a national political ticket, but the joke has really been on us, hasn’t it?” reads an e-mail chain that’s been making the Internet rounds. The e-mail then suggests a joke of its own:  Instead of donating to the Obama campaign, protesters should make a contribution to Planned Parenthood—in Sarah Palin’s name. Interested parties are also directed to list the McCain campaign headquarters address with their donation so that “when you make a donation to PP in her name, they’ll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor.”

The ruse is directed at those Palin haters who feel they “can’t support the Obama campaign financially” but are still open to “fiendishly brilliant alternative” ways to spend their cash.

Full text after the jump.

Read More “Chain E-mail Suggests Dastardly Palin Subterfuge” »