An open letter to American businesses that fund Planned Parenthood:

I wonder sometimes if you realize how financially unwise your decision to fund Planned Parenthood is. With so many charities that don’t kill babies and marginalize society, you have persisted in giving to the biggest abortion provider in the nation. So thanks…

-Thanks, Southwest Airlines, repeatedly named to the Life Decisions International list. I just booked two plane tickets from Birmingham, Alabama to cities where you fly, but I used American. Your prices might have been better. You even gave me a travel voucher for $100 in February when you delayed me in St. Louis. But then I saw your name on the list, funding the thing I live my life to stand against. I also had a SWA credit card I used for mileage, and though I didn't regularly carry a balance on it, I had just used it to pay my insurance premium to get mileage; I paid it that same day. When I wrote you to tell you I was done until you stopped funding baby killing, your reply, that you don’t “officially” sponsor Planned Parenthood but, essentially, your company does through your employees, was evasive and cowardly.

-And, YMCA. One of those  plane tickets was to go home for Thanksgiving. Flying in on Wednesday, I thought I could run my favorite Turkey Trot 5K Thursday morning. But alas! How can I give any money to the Y if it has corporate sponsorship in abortion? Seriously. Guess I get to sleep in like everyone else Thanksgiving morning, even though I really wanted to do that 5K. It’s my favorite.

-Thanks, also, Whole Foods. You are actually not too far from my new home. I live in a town with, well, no good grocery stores of which to speak and planned to shop at your store weekly. I loved shopping at your store when I lived in Kansas City. But then you showed up on the list, too. So now I have to drive farther out of the way, searching little organic markets. It’s too bad. I spent way too much money on you. I really love big fresh take out salads and organic baked chips , and fresh hummus, and bread, and… well, I love LIFE more than all of that.

-You, too, Girl Scouts. I didn’t need to eat Thin Mints anyway. They aren’t exactly the picture of health, and with my Whole Foods elimination, I probably should be watching my cookie consumption.

-Oh, Olive Garden! I loved you. You were a treat, but no more. You used the profit from my overpriced meal to kill babies. Seriously. You and all the other Darden restaurants like Red Lobster can keep your food. It’s like cooking it in blood.

-Really, Starwood Hotels (Aloft, Element, Four Points, Le Méridien, Sheraton, St. Regis, W, Westin)? Yeah thanks. Not that I can afford a lot of your offerings but I do travel a lot. And thanks to your repeated appearance on the list, no longer can I choose any of your hotels, but worse yet, now I can’t use Priceline or Hotwire. I was a Priceline expert who could work that system for some incredible deals, but a discount  Starwood hotel would still be my money funding abortion.

No, thank you.

You see, American businesses, I am one woman. I’m not rich or influential on my own, but I travel. I eat out. I live a pretty normal American life. But I value my calling to Stand for LIFE more than I do your products. The thing is, I can’t imagine one reasonable person who supports abortion refusing to fly, buy or eat at one of your business because you don't give money to Planned Parenthood. It’s like good movies. If you leave the swearing and sex out but still make a quality movie, even those who would have seen it with the R-rated materials will go, but you actually add a whole new audience if you leave the trash outside. The only question I really have is this: why is it so important to you to fund an abortion provider? We know that LDI has communicated with you and given you a chance to stop before issuing its lists, so it’s not ignorance. Do you get some sort of extra profit off them if you fund them?

I don’t like changing my plans. I don’t like being the party pooper, But you know what I don’t like more? I don’t like standing before Jesus and telling him I really needed to save $100 so I flew the airline I knew funded abortion. Or I really wanted to be with all my friends and they insisted on Olive Garden so I needed to go.

There is not enough blood money in all the earth to make me give into the death of those who can’t speak out.

Shame on you, American businesses that fund death.

Sincerely,

Susan