Religious Right Agenda In Congress: Year In Review

Construction Of Planned Parenthood Clinic Boycotted

An Austin concrete contractor has organized a boycott by other contractors, materials suppliers and construction workers to try to stop the construction of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Austin where abortions will be performed. Supporters of the clinic decry the campaign as economic blackmail.

 

The clinic is being built to replace an existing facility, where abortions are not performed.  Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region (PPTCR) says the clinic will accommodate more patients and expand its range of reproductive and sexual health services. Gynecological services, testing and counseling for HIV, sexually transmitted disease, and pregnancy, referrals for prenatal care and adoption, cancer screening, and men's services will be among the other services that will be provided there.  Construction began in September 2003 with plans for the clinic to be complete by the fall of 2004. Chris Danze began the boycott by writing to several companies saying that he would stop doing business with them if they participated in building the clinic.  The Austin Area Pro-Life  Concrete Contractors and Suppliers Association formed and, with Danze as chair, sent a letter to more than 750 Austin- and San Antonio-area construction-related businesses asking them not to participate in the construction.  Danze claims that every concrete supplier within 60 miles of Austin has indicated it will not supply materials or labor to the project. 

 

Organizers then led a massive phone and e-mail campaign, with other anti-choice groups, Christian radio stations, and churches joining the effort.  According to PPTCR, every company working at the site was targeted and threatened by harassing phone calls.  Danze, it said, encouraged other anti-choice advocates to call particular contractors and tell them that working on a facility that provided abortions was "morally wrong," and that it would "not be good for future business."  The Los Angeles Times quoted Danze as saying that the message was, "If you work on [the Austin facility], you won't be working on other projects."  The Washington Post reported that a drywall subcontractor said he was told that his participation "was the equivalent of the stonemasons and plumbers in Germany building the gas chambers."  One subcontractor who backed out of the project reportedly had received 1,200 threatening calls.  Danze said church involvement was crucial because, once church planning and building committees started calling subcontractors to pressure them to quit the clinic project if they wanted church construction work, companies “started bailing out” because they could not afford to lose church work. The general contractor, Browning Construction of San Antonio, pulled out in early November after it lost its carpenters, heating and air-conditioning subcontractors, concrete suppliers, and electricians.  Browning asked to terminate its contract because it was “unable to secure and retain adequate subcontractors and suppliers to complete the project in a timely manner."

 

PPTCR announced it would serve as its own general contractor, citing the offers of financial and professional support that poured in when Browning's withdrawal was made public.  State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, a city council member, and three former mayors joined other officials in speaking out in support of Planned Parenthood and against the boycott.  Six days after Browning’s pullout, an impromptu request for donations to combat the boycott made at PPTCR's annual public affairs luncheon raised $33,000 in five minutes.

 

Construction of the clinic is temporarily halted but PPTCR plans to resume building sometime in the coming year.  Its executive director said, "They pressured and intimidated mom-and-pop businesses that are not political, people who are just trying to make a living. The boycott does not in any way signify what this community thinks about this clinic. There is enormous support for this project to go forward, and it will."

 

Texas Right to Life called Danze a "true American hero” and Texas Eagle Forum gushed, “Danze gets our vote for Texan of the Year!”  Both sides see this as a possible model for boycotts elsewhere.

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