BOSTON -- Massachusetts Citizens for Life, 40 Days for Life, and Operation Rescue will protest at Planned Parenthood facilities in Massachusetts, Aug. 22, as part of a series of demonstrations nationally in response to recently-released videos that prompted investigations of the largest provider of abortions in the United States.

Campaign Director of 40 Days for Life Boston, Rita Russo, said over 50 other pro-life organizations across the country will participate in the National Day of Protest at Planned Parenthood offices and abortion facilities across the United States.

"Our society is suffering from apathy. Abortion has been seen as someone else's problem. These videos have shaken people to the core and made them realize what is at stake. As part of the human family, we are obliged to defend our weakest and most vulnerable members," Russo said in an email.

Organizers say that undercover videos released by the group Center for Medical Progress show high-level Planned Parenthood executives haggling over the "prices of fetal specimens." Federal laws prohibit profiting from the sale of human body parts.

"All of my life I have believed that human life is sacred, and precious gift from God. Treating human life as a commodity to be bought and bartered over is degrading and dehumanizing. We have become a nation that is killing its children. It is horrific," Russo said.

Operation Rescue and 40 Days for Life will participate in a morning rally held 10 a.m.-noon at the Planned Parenthood facility at 1055 Commonwealth Ave. in Boston, while MCFL will participate in an event at the Planned Parenthood facility at 475 Pleasant Street in Worcester.

"As a consequence of this public scandal, several states have initiated investigations of Planned Parenthood and legislation has been introduced in Congress to defund the abortion giant. Planned Parenthood currently receives over $500 million in taxpayer funding annually," a press advisory sent to The Pilot by MCFL said.

Concerned citizens of Worcester will have a press conference, prayer vigil and protest calling attention to the practices of Planned Parenthood.

Speakers at the Worcester event will include Lee Crowley, a vigil coordinator for 40 Days for Life Worcester; Rod Murphy, director of Problem Pregnancy, a crisis pregnancy center offering women an alternative to abortion; Anne Fox, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life; and Catherine Anthony Adair, a former Planned Parenthood clinic worker who left the organization after seeing the aftermath of a second trimester abortion. Bishop of the Diocese of Worcester Robert J. McManus will lead the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet during the event.

The ProtestPP.com coalition is headed by Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Created Equal, 40 Days for Life and the Pro-Life Action League, and is co-sponsored by fifty state and national pro-life organizations. Those interested can learn more at www.protestpp.com.