There was an article in the university paper today about a job fair in which criminals are given a "fresh start" (so says the article's title). Normally, i ignore these things, but then I saw this little gem:

"Planned Parenthood representative Cynthia Brown, who was at the event, said people with criminal records are encouraged to apply for a job at the organization" (emphasis mine).

Who knew that Planned Parenthood hires criminals? Certainly, they have a history of protecting criminals (read: hiding them from the law). One wonders: are these people being hired as "security guards" or as the doctors and nurses? The move makes sense, of course. There are those who support a woman's "right" to "choose," and even those who outright support abortion (with or without the woman's choice).

But to actually participate in the abortion, as the "service provider," that's something different. There is, after all, a reason why there has been a significant push by the pro-aborts to take away a doctor's right to refuse to partake in this carnage--namely, that a great number of doctors, including those who are otherwise pro-choice, want to have nothing to do with actually performing the abortion.

Enter the criminals. Here you have a group of people who have already gained a sort of stigma from society. These are people who are desperate for a second-chance (some of them, anyway); since they already have that stigma, working for Planned Parenthood makes perfect sense for them. As for Planned Parenthood, they need people who aren't afraid to harass the protesters and sidewalk counselors assembled peaceably some distance away. After all, why risk the possibility that these folks might actually convince a woman (or her boyfriend who is pressuring her) to choose not to have the abortion at the last second? The folks who hold prayer vigils have often complained that Planned Parenthood has sent their thugs out to harass (physically and sexually as well as vocally) them. As it turns out, these really and literally are thugs, that is, (ex-)criminals.

Planned Parenthood likes to paint itself as an organization which is there to give women a second chance after making the "mistake" of getting pregnant. In general, they want to be seen as the organization which gives people a second chance, and hiring criminals can be spun by their PR folks as a means of doing that. After all, there are plenty of real benevolent businesses who will hire ex-convicts, and many of these ex-cons will make do fine there; they really will receive (and take advantage of) a second chance. The problem with Planned Parenthood is that they don't believe that anybody deserves a first chance, without which there is no second-chance.