Blogger "acerimusdux," writing on Daily Kos on 9-22-15, compiled a list of quotations about Planned Parenthood made by Republicans running for the presidential nomination. Of the top nine in the polls at that time, eight of them told a blatant lie about what Planned Parenthood does, about its motives, or about the fake video concocted by the notorious sting operation.
The lies ranged from outrageous: "[They should not get a penny] . . . because they're not actually doing women's health issues" - Jeb Bush.
. . . to the more outrageous: "[Y]ou've
created an industry . . . an incentive for people to be pushed into
abortions so that those tissues can be harvested and sold for a profit"
-- Marco Rubio.
. . . to the even more outrageous: "Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings" -- Ted Cruz.
. . . and even worse: "Civilized people don't hack other people to death and then sell the parts because there's money to be made" -- Mike Huckabee.
And then, in a category by herself, because it was so gut-wrenchingly graphic and horrific -- was Carly Fiorino's description of watching the video of "a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain."
The truth about that is: Whatever video Fiorino is talking about had nothing to do with Planned Parenthood. Some evidence suggests that it was a film clip, not of a fetus at all, but of a baby from a premature birth totally unconnected with Planned Parenthood -- or the result of an abortion. It was from film taken by the father of a much wanted child whose premature birth, and death shortly thereafter, was the result of a naturally occurring miscarriage. The sound track superimposed that Fiorino says she heard could not have had any connection with this film clip taken by grieving parents and sent out to friends.
The one candidate of the nine who did not lie was Donald Trump. Although he said he opposes abortion, he at least acknowledged that government funding goes for women's health care, not for abortions.
The truth is that 97% of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are not abortion related. The truth is that PP does not sell fetal tissues; it only charges legally permissible expenses of storing and shipping fetal tissues to legitimate research organizations. The truth is that mothers' choice to donate tissues for research is entirely voluntary, without any coercion whatsoever, either directly or indirectly.
I have no quarrel with those who oppose abortion. I'm not a fan of it myself; but I think it should be available, it should be legal, it should be rare, and it should be decided by a mother and her doctor, not by politicians. Abortion would be rarer than it is, if conservative politicians didn't defund contraceptive services.
It is a sad point we've come to when presidential candidates of a major political party have so little faith in their policies that they think the only way they can win is by lying.
Ralph
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