In the face of so much bad news from Planned Parenthood, God has delivered a sweet gift to STOPP and the people of Corpus Christi this Christmas.

As of January 1, 2011, Corpus Christi will be PP-free! Planned Parenthood of South Texas will disaffiliate from Planned Parenthood Federation of America and change its name to Family Planning of the Coastal Bend.

As with all developments of this magnitude, there were many contributing factors:

1. Corpus Christi has a long history of intense pro-life activity, including the valiant efforts of Corpus Christi Right to Life and the Body of Christ Rescue.

2. In February, 2008, STOPP's Jim Sedlak picketed with local pro-lifers outside a Planned Parenthood clinic and announced the formation of a local effort totally dedicated to fighting Planned Parenthood. The new organization was called South Texas STOPP.

3. South Texas STOPP was very aggressive in its fight against Planned Parenthood, carefully implementing all of the facets of our plan to defeat Planned Parenthood. Among their victories:

* They got the Corpus Christi City Council to deny $30,000 in funding to PP.

* They were able to get the Nueces County Hospital District to deny $70,000 in funding to PP.

* They were able to get Planned Parenthood out of the Corpus Christi Independent School District.

* They maintained regular pickets at the PP clinics and other events.

4. In making the announcement of its disaffiliation from Planned Parenthood, PP CEO Amanda Stukenberg, long-time mouthpiece for abortion "rights" in Corpus Christi, said the decision was made because Planned Parenthood Federation of America is requiring every affiliate to do surgical and/or medical abortions.

Though Stukenberg said Planned Parenthood did not want to do abortions, there is no doubt that a major part of that decision not to do so was due to the active fight that is currently being waged against it by South Texas STOPP. Planned Parenthood leadership knew that openly committing abortions would just intensify their opposition and lead to more losses of support in the community. They are desperately trying to save their operation by renaming it Family Planning of the Coastal Bend, and dropping all association with Planned Parenthood.

This is a major victory. Planned Parenthood has operated clinics in the city since 1958. Planned Parenthood in Corpus Christi was the first Planned Parenthood in the country to get government money in the 1960s. Soon, Planned Parenthood of South Texas will be just a bitter memory.

Congratulations to the people of Corpus Christi for this hard-one victory. We ask your prayers for them as they continue the battle to take down the struggling progeny of Planned Parenthood and the independent abortion mill that remains in their midst.