Catholic priest says it’s ‘unethical’ to install fire alarms at Planned Parenthood

During a call-in segment for the Catholic Answers radio show, a priest told a conflicted handyman that he has every right to refuse to install fire alarms at a Planned Parenthood facility since it would be just like aiding the Nazis or the KKK.

A caller identifying himself as “Matthew” addressed a question to Father Paul Keller, saying he was unsure about how he’d feel if his company installed fire alarm systems at Planned Parenthood.

“It would be not a good thing to be involved in helping somebody who’s taking a life,” Father Keller told the caller. “Think about if you were in Nazi Germany, and you were asked by Hitler to install a fire alarm, or a sprinkler system, in one of the guards’ shacks right next to the ovens that were killing Christians and Jews, and so forth. I don’t think you’d want to even set foot in an internment camp such in that part of the world.”

“Suppose the Ku Klux Klan asked you to do this similar work in one of their offices, but they are completed devoted to being anti-Catholic and… being totally racist and so forth. So no, you wouldn’t want to do that,” he added.

According to Father Keller, Planned Parenthood’s main objective is to “kill babies in the womb.”

“…and we should have nothing to do with it,” he explained. “We should not aid and abet them in any way whatsoever.”

“So, yes, it would be unethical to work with them, for them, in any way.”

From The Friendly Atheist‘s Sarabeth Caplin:

I’m stunned that even installing a basic safety staple is considered a violation of religious principle.

I’m no fan of this administration, yet I wouldn’t wish for the White House to catch on fire. I don’t think that says much about my moral code. It just suggests a basic sense of decency that everyone, unless you’re a sociopath, should already be born with.

And it’s telling that Father Keller heard Planned Parenthood and his mind immediately jumped to comparisons with Nazis and the Klan. This argument is especially insensitive to survivors of concentration camps and trivializes the pain they suffered. Jews of Nazi Germany were singled out for extinction as a result of hatred and scapegoating. Women don’t abort their fetuses for even remotely similar reasons.

Watch the exchange in the video below:

Featured image via Flickr

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.