Planned Parenthood Derangement Syndrome

From C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:

Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, "Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that," or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.

I think this is what's happening with the Planned Parenthood baby parts video in which Dr. Deborah Nucotela is recorded discussing setting up a relationships between Planned Parenthood affiliates and a fetal tissue procurement firm.

Click to enlarge.

We start out with the story of a filthy atrocity: There sits a friendly, attractive woman relishing her salad while cheerfully describing how she chooses where to place the forceps to crush the tiny bodies of living unborn babies in order to harvest their organs. It's hard to think of a more filthy atrocity than that. And that atrocity is sufficient unto itself. Why must we search to up the evil ante?

I can't recall who made the comment, but a very astute man postulated that too many prolifers suffer from "Planned Parenthood Derangement Syndrome." If we hear anything bad about Planned Parenthood, we latch onto it with the tenacity of the damned. I must admit, I have a touch of PPDS myself. When the baby parts video first came out, I "fact checked" it and was agreeing about the selling baby parts harvested via partial birth abortion. Then I watched the full, unedited video and realized I had been wrong. I had been, as C.S. Lewis said, indulging in the sheer pleasure of thinking my enemies are as bad as possible.

"But she kills babies!" I'm admonished again and again as I defend Dr. Deborah Nucotela  against allegations of perpetrating partial-birth abortions in order to profiteer from selling the organs and tissues of unborn babies.Yeah, she kills babies, and she's pretty blasé about it. That fact stands alone.

The other allegations -- that she performs partial-birth abortions to get the organs and that she sells the organs for profit -- are simply not true. The original video was heavily edited to make it seem as though that's what she said. The title of the video even makes that allegation. But again, it's not true. And the fact that somehow so many of us want it to be true -- badly enough to ignore and/or dismiss all evidence to the contrary -- speaks ill of us. Repeating false allegations against Dr. Nucotela is bearing false witness against her. There's a Commandment against that. There is no codicil to that commandment adding, "Unless, of course, the person has a besetting sin, in which case all bets are off."

When I watched the full video, I did it looking for the details about how nasty Dr. Nucotela was, to get more specifics. I didn't watch it trying to find reasons to defend her. But there they were.

My blog profile quotes Ephesians 5:11: "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them." That admonition holds true even if it's prolifers participating in a deed of darkness against a Planned Parenthood worker. No matter what she does, it's still a sin to bear false witness against her. And it's my job to defend her against that false witness. She has enough sins of her own without us inventing more. And I have enough sins of my own without adding sins against Deborah Nucotela.