Rolling Stone, which has put forth easily debunked pro-abortion points in the past, recently published an interview with Planned Parenthood CEO and president, Cecile Richards, in which the outlet also couldn’t help but take shots at pro-life politicians and their proposal to defund the abortion giant. The bulk of the piece, however, invited Richards to puff up her organization.
One could almost picture writer Tim Dickinson, who conducted the interview, holding Richards’ hand with bated breath as they discussed “enormous solidarity across the country” and “the threat” Planned Parenthood faces. After Richards referred to the threat as “serious,” Dickinson invtied her to break it down further. She offered this doomsday scenario:
Just to be clear: This isn’t about the check we get from the federal government to run our health centers. This is actually about women – primarily women, but all people who are on Medicaid – being able to come to Planned Parenthood for preventive care. It’s not abortion; the federal government and Medicaid do not fund abortion services. […] We’re talking about more than a million-and-a-half people who rely on Planned Parenthood, and for most of them we’re their only medical provider. As all of the medical institutions have said: There’s no one to take our place providing low- and moderate-income people with preventive health care. There isn’t any other entity that is doing that work.
However, Planned Parenthood is not the nation’s only healthcare provider. It just has the good fortune of being federally funded, to the misfortune of hard-working Americans who object to their dollars going to the scandal-ridden abortion giant. It’s not only that there are other entities serving lower-income people, but these entities, Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHCs), actually outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics.
In addition, Planned Parenthood may not be legally able to receive federal funding for most abortions (though Planned Parenthood would like to see that end), but money is fungible. Federal funds enable Planned Parenthood to free up other funds for abortions. The abortion giant likes to talk a lot about the other services they provide, such as breast exams, but those services have actually decreased even while taxpayer funding increased. The number of Planned Parenthood clients has also dropped, down 400,000 since 2006.
When asked by Dickinson about “[a]ppealing to the private sector for funds,” gone was the recent bragging of Planned Parenthood about how much money the organization raised following the 2016 election. Richards instead gives this response:
[…] you can’t privatize the public health care system. It will be a state-by-state plan. Some of our states have been shut out of programs for a long, long time, and they’re equipped in a different way than in states where they currently see tens of thousands of Medicaid patients. We’ll be working at the state levels with governors and legislatures to make sure that patients get care. But first we’re working [at the federal level] to make sure that doesn’t happen.
If Planned Parenthood truly wants “to make sure that patients get care,” they could get out of the way and allow FQHCs to receive federal funding.
When asked if there is anything that gives her hope, Richards repeats the claim made by other Planned Parenthood executives that supporters of President-elect Donald Trump don’t want Planned Parenthood defunded. This claim is based on a survey of less than 50 voters.
Richards’ claims, furthered by media allies like Rolling Stone, is a tactic to save face–and money–for Planned Parenthood. Richards said their “job right now is to ensure that the incoming president recognizes the devastating impact it would have on real people and their lives — and how important it is not to go that direction.”
With any hope, thanks to the hard work of pro-lifers and their allies in Congress, our government will instead see right through Richards’ lies and do the right thing for all Americans, not just those who don’t want their hard-earned money going to Planned Parenthood, but, most importantly, the preborn and their right to live.
