While businesses start closing the books on another fiscal year, Congress is fighting to close the books on taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood — permanently. Caught in a scandal with an unprecedented “ick” factor, organization President Cecile Richards took the stand for the first time to try to justify the grisly baby harvesting ring her group has been hiding.
Relying on tired talking points, Richards insisted the footage of her employees hawking human body parts were “doctored” — a claim that will be tough to make now that forensics have validated them. The tapes’ authenticity was confirmed and released to the press early this morning, as part of an Alliance Defending Freedom effort. Since David Daleiden released the first video, the “edited footage” line has been the Left’s go-to defense — which never made much sense, since Planned Parenthood apologized for its staffers’ tone, only to insist later that the staffers never said any such thing.
According to cybersecurity and forensic experts, all 10 “full-footage videos” from Center for Medical Progress (CMP) “show no evidence of manipulation or editing.” Yet Richards, in her carefully rehearsed testimony, insisted that the real villain was Daleiden, which is ironic since all he did was reveal something she now claims to be “proud” of. Proud, apparently, of cutting into tiny baby bodies when their hearts are still beating. Proud of putting women through riskier abortion procedures to get better, more valuable baby organs. Or was it pride that her medical directors were negotiating higher prices for the little livers, hearts, and brains?
Honestly, maybe this is the problem. Cecile Richards and the entire network of Planned Parenthood supporters are proud. In a world where President Obama said “nobody’s pro-abortion,” the single largest recipient of taxpayer dollars is. “Their desire for more of taxpayer dollars is just insatiable,” said committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). “[And] that’s money that’s not going to women’s health care.” To a slide showing an uptick in the group’s abortion procedures, Richards claimed that it “did not reflect what’s happening at Planned Parenthood.”
Confronted about the parts-for-profits scheme, she replied that it was a “miniscule” part of Planned Parenthood’s work. But it might not represent a “miniscule” breaking of the law. At this weekend’s Values Voter Summit, Senator Rick Santorum recounted his recent interview on CNN. “Well, the procedures that we saw described in these videos I know very well, because they were partial-birth abortions. And he (the CNN host) says, well, okay, but, you know, how do you know that that’s against the law? I said, because I wrote the law.”
The bottom line is the bottom line. Planned Parenthood wants their money. They’ll sue the states for it, overbill for birth control to get it, lie to women to get it, even carve up tiny human babies for it. And why do liberals stand for it? Because the 13,000 community health centers that could provide better care do not provide something else: $20 million in Democratic political contributions over the last two election cycles alone. The President’s party will do anything to survive politically — even if it means jeopardizing the survival of women and innocent children.
At some point, maybe now, that reckless and callous approach will cost them. At the very least, it may cost Planned Parenthood. In both chambers, members are moving to end this forced partnership between taxpayers and the abortion giant through the budget reconciliation process. Under it, the Senate can limit debate on a budget bill to 20 hours and pass it with 51 votes instead of the 60 that are normally required to end debate. This year’s provision would cut funding for Planned Parenthood for one year in Medicaid, the group’s largest funding stream.
If pro-lifers succeed, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it would save taxpayers an estimated $235 million. And who knows how many lives? Contact your leaders and ask them to take every possible step — reconciliation or otherwise — to stop the flow of government dollars to a group that exalts cash over care and “choice” over child.
LifeNews Note: Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council.
