FRONT ROYAL, VA--For many years now, executives at Whole Foods Market have misled the public regarding its support of Planned Parenthood. Despite the fact that the corporation's support of the pro-abortion group is indisputable, it now has a vocal ally.

After learning that Whole Foods Market is a boycott target, Crystal M. Jones, a resident of Pittsburgh, Penn., contacted her local store. She received a response from Casey Dill, a store "team leader":

Thank you for the heads up. Your instincts are correct and I wish everyone would confront us as you have rather than accept the boycotts at face value. It is against company policy for stores to donate to any politically charged organizations. We donate to thousands of organizations in our community, but we have never donated to Planned Parenthood, and I am disappointed that not one organizer of these boycotts has reached out to me to at least discuss their concerns. Thank you again.

"Why Dill thinks LDI would contact a local 'team leader' to discuss the boycott when it is a matter for the corporate headquarters is a mystery," said Douglas R. Scott, Jr., president of Life Decisions International (LDI). "Nevertheless, he was flatly wrong when he wrote that, 'It is against company policy for stores to donate to any politically charged organizations.'" (Maybe Whole Foods Market executives do not consider Planned Parenthood to be "politically charged"?)

Dill was exclusively addressing his one store when he wrote, "We donate to thousands of organizations in our community, but we have never donated to Planned Parenthood."

A Whole Foods Market representative from the national headquarters chimed in on the matter:

Given our business and core values, we concentrate on issues involving the environment and living a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, both our customer base and shareholders come from diverse backgrounds and have a wide range of political and religious views. While Whole Foods Market's donation policy allows our stores the freedom to choose organizations that are important to our communities and Team Members, on a corporate level, Whole Foods Market Inc. has not provided donations or financial support to Planned Parenthood.

We encourage you to contact the store where you shop to find out who they donate to. We do not call out any specific organizations by name as to who our stores can or cannot donate to. We thank you for your comments and hope you will continue to support Whole Foods Market because of our commitment to bringing you the most healthful natural foods available.

After hearing back from Whole Foods, Jones sent a scathing e-mail to LDI, the subject of which was, "BLATANT slander and false information":

This is infuriating! How can you list Whole Foods on this boycott!?!? Whole Foods has NEVER donated to Planned Parenthood--not as a corporation, and not as individual stores! WF has a policy of not donating to ANY politically charged organization.

Who has started this list? Where did the information re: Whole Foods come from? I would like to contact the source in order to address this issue.

Here is a response from my local store's management and the corporation itself. Please feel free to contact your Whole Foods and any other store on boycott lists--make sure the information is accurate! Boycotts are a serious matter that affect someone's business and many employees and should not be applied lightly!

Also, be sure you CONTACT the company that you are boycotting. How are they to know/change their policies if you do not inform them of your decision?

Please check your facts before you publish slander and falsehoods.

As evidenced by the accusatory tone, Jones took the statements from Whole Foods Market's local store as gospel. What's more, she forwarded the e-mail she had sent to LDI to several people in the media and pro-family organizations--without even waiting for LDI to respond. (Jones apparently believed there was nothing LDI could say to change her mind.)

The statement by the company could not be clearer. "Whole Foods Market's donation policy allows our stores the freedom to choose organizations that are important to our communities and Team Members..." The corporate official attempts to downplay the policy by writing, "on a corporate level, Whole Foods Market Inc. has not provided donations or financial support to Planned Parenthood."

"All we can say is, 'So what?'" responded Scott. "It does not matter if the money going to Planned Parenthood comes from the corporate headquarters or a local store. The point is that it is coming from Whole Foods Market, along with the company's "stamp of approval" for the pro-abortion group."

Whole Foods Market has been encouraging pro-life advocates to contact their local stores to determine if they support Planned Parenthood. If every boycott target could convince pro-life activists to do such a thing, the impact on the pro-life cause would be devastating.

LDI responded to Jones' e-mail. Several people in the media and from pro-life organizations have inquired about the Jones e-mail, but we do not know the names of everyone she had contacted. Consequently, LDI cannot provide everyone with the facts.

Jones, an employee at the Asthma and Allergic Disease Clinical Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, was not impressed with LDI's response, despite the fact that every point she made was addressed. She fired back. "I am not going to go away," Jones wrote. "This is a serious matter that should not be treated so lightly."

Anyone working for LDI routinely ends an e-mail or phone call with, "God bless you." Jones even took exception to this statement:

[H]ow DARE you say "God bless you"?...I do not care to have a member of LDI say "God bless you" to me when as far as I can tell the organization is careless and lacking in integrity.

We do not know Jones' position on abortion, but we do know that by doing the bidding of Whole Foods Market, she has harmed the pro-life cause and she shows no sign of stopping. "It's a shame that some people have such an attachment to certain favorite businesses that they will look for a loophole in the evidence to justify shopping there," said Ken Garvey, LDI's director of communications. LDI has never and will never publish information that is even remotely questionable. If we are not 100 percent convinced of the accuracy, we do not release it.

BACKGROUND: see The Caleb Report for May-June 2005, July-August 2005, November-December 2005, March-April 2006, and November-December 2006.