GILROY—A small group of pro-life demonstrators picketed the Gilroy Planned Parenthood facility Saturday to protest the organization’s selling of body parts of aborted fetuses, an issue that has made national headlines for weeks, since video tapes of the alleged practice surfaced.
The Gilroy demonstration is part of a nationwide day of protest to call attention to Planned Parenthood’s practices and demand that millions of dollars in federal funding to the organization cease.
“I’ve see the videos of Planned Parenthood selling baby parts for profit and it’s an atrocity; I want my voice to be heard, “ said Nancy Murphy, 62, of San Martin.
Murphy was part of a planned show of solidarity that was to have drawn people from South Santa Clara County as similar protest were carried on in San Jose and across the country, organizer said.
At the Gilroy Planned Parenthood Mar Monte facility, a woman who identified herself as the center manger, Victoria, declined to give her last name and referred calls to the organization’s media number. Calls to that 408 number were not answered.
Maria Silva, 19, of Morgan Hill, lead the Gilroy demonstration and moved it in late morning from the facility on Renz Lane to the busy intersection of Hwy 152 and Camino Arroyo, for more visibility, she said.
Protesters held brightly colored placards, some depicting dead fetuses. Prolifers numbered about one dozen people and included men and women and teens.
Silva said he was moved to get involved in the nationwide day of protest after viewing videos of Planned Parenthood’s alleged harvesting and selling of the body parts of aborted fetuses.
Calling the practice, “Heinous,” she said, “There are no degrees of life, a fetus is either human or not human, we believe they are human.
The main protest was scheduled to go from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., but an early contingent that included Murphy, and her husband, John, 62, arrived early at 9:30 a.m.
Organizer Maria Silva in a press announcement called the action, “part of the groundbreaking response to investigative videos that allege that Planned Parenthood is involved in the illegal sale of body parts.”
She claimed the nationwide event “is part of the largest protest in the history of the profile movement.”
The Planned Parenthood facility is located at 760 Renz La., Gilroy, next to the CHP office and behind Lowe’s.
Connie Lopes said she was motivated to protest after learning of an alleged incident in which a Planned Parenthood technician cut through the face of a baby that was alive to harvest its brain.
“That really tipped the scale for me,” she said. “A 20-week old delivered alive and they wanted the brain so they cut right through its face.”
Alfonzo Cardoza, 36, made the trip from San Jose to join the protesters. “It’s not right to take the life of another,” he said.
And Eka Ninkoviv, 42, of San Martin, said, “I have a very strong belief that people should speak up for life.” She opposes federal tax funding for Planned Parenthood.
