Parenthood Clinic Opening Met With Protesters
FERNDALE (WWJ) - Dozens of people lined up outside the Planned Parenthood in Ferndale on Monday, as they protested against the newly opened clinic.
Protestors chanted, prayed and carried signs to voice their disapproval over the first clinic of its kind in Oakland County. President and CEO of the clinic's local chapter, Lora Lamerand, said that it will offer many services -- but not abortion.
"We will do breast exams, provide birth control, check people who ask for it for sexually transmitted infections and we're hoping to offer services to the LGBT community of Ferndale," Lamerand said.
Monica Miller, who organized the protest, said she's aware the clinic will not offer abortions, but it still doesn't change her position on the matter.
"All of these photographs that you see here today, I took those photos. These babies were aborted. I held them in my own hands, I took them out of the trash and I photographed them," Miller told WWJ's Sandra McNeil. "I see with my own eyes, the consequences of abortion. It's the killing of a true human being who's been declared a non-person."
According to Lamerand, the clinic is one of the few in Metro Detroit that will offer cancer screenings and other health services to about 18,000 local women. "Without our presence, I'm not sure I really believe that most of those people wouldn't get care," she said.
