Contact: Keith Mason, Personhood USA, 202-595-3500

JACKSON, Miss., Aug. 12, 2011 /Standard Newswire/ -- Mississippi voters were in an uproar on Wednesday when Planned Parenthood Seattle Chaplain Vincent Lachina was exposed during a Mississippi Secretary of State's Personhood Amendment Hearing.

Speaking to a crowd of Mississippi voters, Lachina claimed to be a Southern Baptist minister, both "prolife and prochoice." Addressing the crowd in a clerical collar, Mississippians listened intently as Lachina shared that he grew up in Jackson and had a Mississippi heritage. Lachina boldly preached an ideology of choice from the pulpit, calling for a "no" vote on prolife Amendment 26, but left out some critical details.

Lachina failed to mention that he is the Washington State Chaplain at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Jacob Dawson, of AFA, was sitting in the audience and decided to do a Google search of Lachina, having never heard of a Southern Baptist preacher from Mississippi by that name -- much less a pro-choice, clerical collar-wearing Southern Baptist Preacher.

Dawson got up before the crowd and stated, "A quick Google search reveals that Mr. Lachina is from Seattle, and is a chaplain for Planned Parenthood."

The crowd was stunned, and many were outraged at the misrepresentation and deception of Planned Parenthood.

Further research on Mr. Lachina revealed the following statement: "We gay men don't need to worry about what the Republicans, the religious right, or homophobes will do to us." Vincent Lachina, "The Good Boy," The Advocate, 1-30-2007.

The "Religious Right" mentioned by Lachina certainly must include Southern Baptists, who have historically opposed abortion and homosexuality, and have made public statements expounding on that opposition.

"Nationwide, we have seen Planned Parenthood's repeated attempts to deceive the public. These are just the kind of underhanded tactics we have come to expect from Planned Parenthood," explained Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA. "It appears that Planned Parenthood flew a man from Washington to Mississippi, put him in a clerical collar, and asked him to appeal to the voters with deep Southern Baptist roots. It's just wrong. His attempts to dissuade voters from voting for Amendment 26 will not be successful. Yes on 26 is an honest campaign for a pro-life measure. No posturing or dress-up is necessary to see that all human beings are people, and that all people have a right to life."

The Yes on 26 Campaign www.yeson26.net has released video of the deception at www.youtube.com/yeson26dotnet.  

Yes on 26 - Greg Sanders - 662-523-6722