If you pay attention and have a brain, you know what’s going on with Planned Parenthood. The network of health clinics that offer women access to basic care and reproductive education and services — yes, abortion is one of them — is under attack by the anti-choice right wing. The wingnut-orchestrated destruction of the late, lamented grassroots community service nonprofit ACORN is happening again — and we must stand against it.
Let’s summarize the evil afoot:
- As of today, four heavily edited undercover sting videos have been released since July 14 showing PP officials allegedly selling fetal tissue for profit.
Factcheck.org says the GOP is giving a false picture:
Several Republican presidential candidates have claimed that Planned Parenthood is “profiting” from abortions. But the full, unedited video they cite as evidence shows a Planned Parenthood executive repeatedly saying its clinics want to cover their costs, not make money, when donating fetal tissue from abortions for scientific research.
Four experts in the field of human tissue procurement told us the price range discussed in the video — $30 to $100 per patient — represents a reasonable fee. “There’s no way there’s a profit at that price,” said Sherilyn J. Sawyer, the director of Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s “biorepository.” … {T]he edited video ignores other things Nucatola said that contradict that idea.
- The Planned Parenthood website is offline, leaving women across the country without Web access to their health provider. The organization says it was hacked; Republican officials say PP brought the site down on its own to gain sympathy and notes that some web pages are functional.
The explanation the right-leaning Washington Examiner says was given by the organization, which maintains that the site was attacked by outside forces, seems reasonable and credible to us. Decide for yourself.
[A] spokeswoman for the group said control of the site was quickly regained after the attack, which allowed the group to put up minimal messages while an attempt was made to boost website security.
“The website is under our control now but it is down until we can restore the site and put safeguards in place,” she said.
- Now, the Republican-controlled US Congress has its sights set on defunding Planned Parenthood, which would lay waste to access to basic health care and reproductive services for millions of women — particularly those in poor inner cities, rural sections, and red states.
Salon notes that GOP anti-choicer activists and even some wingnut pols on The Hill are determined to block funds for PP by any means necessary — even by shutting down the government. The article quotes a right-wing blogger.
“Shut down the government. Now,” demands Erick Erickson. “The budget and appropriations fights are forthcoming,” he writes. “If Barack Obama is willing to risk a government shutdown because he demands our tax dollars continue funding an organization that kills our children and sells their organs, we should have that fight.” This line of reasoning appeals to legislators like Sen. Ted Cruz – auteur of the last shutdown crisis – who is agitating for Planned Parenthood funding to be stripped as part of the upcoming appropriations battle. “I would support any and all legislative efforts to defund Planned Parenthood,” Cruz says. He has sympathetic ears among some of the more conservative members of the House.
Don’t forget that Cruz is one of the GOP “klown kar krew” hoping to become the next president of the United States. He and fellow “klowns” Rand Paul, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal, smelling blood in the water, are taking advantage of this smear campaign to take down an important organization to liberal USians, and to raise campaign funds. It’s craven politicking, it’s disgusting and disturbing, and it gives further proof that the Grand Old Party at its core does not care about women.
From Politico:
“The fact that so many Republican presidential candidates including Scott Walker and Marco Rubio are raising money off the deceiving attacks against Planned Parenthood proves it’s politically motivated,” said Jessica Mackler, president of American Bridge 21st Century, a progressive advocacy organization. “Republicans are jumping at the chance to align themselves with an extremist group to continue their attacks on a woman’s right to choose, but it’s only going to end in further damage to their standing with women.”
These threats are serious! Mitch McConnell is fast-tracking a bill to defund that could go up for a Senate vote as early as Monday. Get busy: Stand for women’s health. Stop the right-wing madness. Don’t let what happened to ACORN take PP down. Tell your members of Congress to reject attempts to block federal funding for Planned Parenthood.Click here to take action.
1 Comment