Planned Parenthood has numerous political allies willing to carry water for it, Hillary Clinton being the most notorious. Time and again, these politicians insist that Planned Parenthood is a benevolent organization that millions of women rely on for health care. And unfortunately, women are consistently being misled by these lies – and they are lies, as a new video from Live Action shows.
Many of the claims involve so-called prenatal care, but they’re made solely to justify taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. The reality is that Planned Parenthood does not care about providing health care to women in need, but instead serves as America’s Abortion Corporation. Claims that Planned Parenthood is focused on true health care, provides consistent prenatal care, or offers mammograms amount to nothing more than ‘fake news.’
Sadly, the claims in Live Action’s video are only the tip of the iceberg; there are plenty of politicians willing to spread inaccurate information about Planned Parenthood to protect the organization. Here are five more examples:
1. Nancy Pelosi called the Planned Parenthood baby parts videos “doctored.”
I don’t stipulate that these videos are real. And the fact is – the fact is, that, uh, the research that is being criticized, the research that has been supported. No, I haven’t seen – I’ve seen some news reports on it, but I also know that some of it is not real. You can create any reality that you want.
… And I think they should be investigated, as to how they attained those, and doctored those, and had them be accepted as something that was an indictment against Planned Parenthood, because that’s not true.
Pelosi was quick to come to Planned Parenthood’s defense after The Center for Medical Progress exposed behavior at Planned Parenthood’s facilities that a congressional report has called illegal, and as executive after executive was caught discussing the abortion chain’s willingness to traffic the body parts of babies they aborted. When a congressional investigation was opened, Pelosi stepped up to bat, claiming that the videos were doctored…even though she admitted to not having actually seen the videos.
The truth is, the videos were not doctored. The full, unedited footage was released with every edited video, and two forensic analyses found that the videos were not tampered with. This includes analysis from a firm hired by Planned Parenthood itself. But if Pelosi acknowledged that the videos are accurate, she would have to acknowledge that Planned Parenthood was engaging in almost certain criminal behavior.
2. Joe Biden claims Planned Parenthood can’t perform abortions.
Now these guys pledge that they’re gonna de-fund Planned Parenthood, which under law cannot perform any abortions.
In what was either a brazen lie or the biggest gaffe of the century, Biden actually tried to argue not only that Planned Parenthood doesn’t perform abortions, but that it’s legally prevented from doing so. A statement was later released clarifying his statement, but the damage had already been done.
The problem with what Biden said is that it furthers the idea of Planned Parenthood as a health care organization rather than what they are – not only an abortion provider, but also the largest abortion chain in the country. According to a study released by Students for Life of America, almost half of all college students have no idea that Planned Parenthood performs abortions. It’s this very ignorance that Planned Parenthood – and its political allies like Biden – look to exploit.
3. Former HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell repeats the mammogram lie.
What I think is important is that our HHS funding is focused on issues of preventative care for women, things like mammograms.
One of the most repeated claims from politicians desperate to save Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding is that women need Planned Parenthood for mammograms. The only problem? Not only does Planned Parenthood not now provide mammograms, but it also has never provided mammograms.
Burwell made these statements at the height of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) controversy, when Planned Parenthood had been exposed in an undercover investigation as willing to sell the body parts of aborted babies, in an obvious attempt to cover for it after she refused to investigate the illegal activity. After defending Planned Parenthood because of “mammograms,” Burwell’s office admitted she had not watched the CMP videos, either.
4. Wendy Davis repeats the Planned Parenthood health care lie.
Planned Parenthood was a lifeline for me many years ago when I was an uninsured teenaged mother struggling financially.
Had Planned Parenthood not been there for me, I’d not have had access to basic health screenings and contraceptive care. …
Even more compelling are the stories of women whose cancers would have otherwise gone undiagnosed and untreated were it not for care from Planned Parenthood.
Davis got notoriety after filibustering for over 11 hours for the “right” to abort five-month-old preborn babies. And she turned herself into a one-issue candidate, failing to win the Texas gubernatorial race after being unable to shake the abortion stigma she created for herself. So once her political career was behind her, Davis returned to her bread and butter of abortion and steadily defended Planned Parenthood.
Unsurprisingly, none of Davis’ premises are true (and it’s not the first time she’s lied for Planned Parenthood). Women don’t rely on Planned Parenthood for cancer screenings or Pap tests; basic health care is simply not a priority there. The abortion chain performs a tiny fraction of health screenings – less than 2% of all cancer screenings, less than 1% of all Pap tests, and less than 2% of all breast exams. And remember: Planned Parenthood doesn’t perform any mammograms. Moreover, Planned Parenthood is outnumbered by thousands of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), community health centers (CHCs), and county health clinics that offer primary care to low-income and uninsured women without committing abortions. Yet Davis still claims that Planned Parenthood provides vital health care services and fails to advocate for the truly comprehensive health care clinics.
5. Chuck Schumer claims defunding Planned Parenthood would hurt women’s health care.
#Trumpcare cuts @PPFA funds, hurting millions of women who turn there for mammograms, maternity care, cancer screenings & more. pic.twitter.com/8ZmgEPZikv
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 7, 2017
This year, Planned Parenthood and its allies have had to grapple with the possibility of losing its taxpayer funding. Immediately, the health care lie reared its ugly head, with Senator Chuck Schumer being one of many to parrot the easily debunked claims.
Perhaps the worst claim is that women rely on Planned Parenthood for “maternity care. They provide very few adoption referrals, and prenatal care is practically nonexistent. When Live Action investigators asked 97 Planned Parenthood facilities for prenatal care, 92 turned them away.
As already discussed, millions of women do not rely on Planned Parenthood for health care; in fact, the abortion chain serves only a tiny percentage of American women. But anything to keep that taxpayer funding flowing, right?
Americans deserve to know the truth about whom and what their taxpayer dollars are going to. Planned Parenthood is an abortion corporation that provides very little health care. Women deserve better than Planned Parenthood, and they especially don’t deserve to be lied to by politicians who care more about keeping Planned Parenthood happy than they do about serving their own constituents.
And honestly, if Planned Parenthood was such a stand-up organization that deserved taxpayer funding on its own merits, why would its people need to lie to begin with? It’s time to defund Planned Parenthood now!
Editor’s Note, 10/13/18: A figure stating that 94% of Planned Parenthood’s services to pregnant women is abortion was removed due to a possible percentage inaccuracy.
