Vandals attack Raleigh Planned Parenthood

RALEIGH -- Vandals have attacked the Planned Parenthood building on South Boylan Avenue in Raleigh.

Video shot by an ABC11 photographer showed messages spray-painted on the outside of the building that included "you shall not murder" and "baby murder."

Raleigh police were on the scene investigating.

"It's very disturbing and it's very concerning," said Melissa Reed with Planned Parenthood. "We've had protestors before but not the graffiti."

Boylan Avenue office does not offer abortions, just reproductive healthcare to women.

The words were power washed off the walls by noon Tuesday.

The attack comes just under a week after Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina filed a federal lawsuit in an attempt to invalidate part of the new North Carolina state budget that cuts it off from federal or state funds for family planning.

The budget written by Republicans in control of the General Assembly for the first time in more than a century states that Planned Parenthood and its affiliates are forbidden from receiving any contracts or grants from the state health agency. The lawsuit filed in Greensboro's federal court by Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina contends the group is being punished for its abortion-rights advocacy, saying that violates its free-speech protections.

The organization is barred by law from using public money to perform abortions and uses the government contracts to provide family planning or teen pregnancy prevention services, yet is being singled out because Planned Parenthood supports abortion rights, the lawsuit said. Efforts to cut off funds to Planned Parenthood affiliates in North Carolina are similar to those in Kansas and Indiana, which were also met with federal lawsuits, the group's attorneys said.

Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina received $287,000 in federal, state, and matching local funds in the last fiscal year for teen pregnancy prevention and family planning programs that provided contraceptives to poor women, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina is a separate affiliate of the national organization from the Raleigh office. It is operated by Planned Parenthood Health Systems, Inc.

Classifieds | Report A Typo |  Send Tip |  Get Alerts | See Click Fix
Follow @abc11 on Twitter  |  Become a fan on Facebook

Get more Local/State »

wake county, local/state

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•