South Cook News

Illinois Right to Life Executive Director Mary Kate Knorr was recently compelled to defend her organization's position in the wake of a verbal tirade to the media by a Planned Parenthood’s spokesperson.

“We actually present women with choices, which is what Planned Parenthood claims to do but simply isn’t the case,” Knorr told South Cook News. “They don’t give options, they push abortion. It can’t be a surprise that most women really presented with an option would choose something other than abortion.”

Knorr was responding to comments from Planned Parenthood Illinois spokeswoman Paula Thornton Greear, who was recently interviewed by Homewood-Flossmoor's Patch media outlet about a faith-based, pro-life crisis pregnancy center that opened next door to a Planned Parenthood in February. Of the center, called Aid for Women, Greear said, “Women, when they go there, quite frankly are duped.”

Illinois Right to Life Executive Director Mary Kate Knorr

She also described the organization’s health care facilities as “fake,” adding that the group has a habit of building centers next to Planned Parenthoods across the country.  

While finding no truth in Thonton Greear’s words, Knorr said she at least thinks she knows where they come from.

“Abortion is critical to Planned Parenthood’s bottom-line,” she said. “They are a for-profit organization and most of their money comes from abortions. It’s why their executives can earn six-figure salaries.”

Since Aid for Women opened its Flossmoor center, several demonstrations have already been held targeting Planned Parenthood, including the pro-life 40 Days For Life campaign. Now a $1.5 million nonprofit organization, Aid for Women was founded more than 40-years ago by Thomas Bresler, a deacon at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Deerfield, in reaction to the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made abortions legal across the country.