Most respected medical journal exposes the false claims made against Planned Parenthood

It's not the first time that anti-abortion activists and politicians have tried to destroy Planned Parenthood.  And now they're using the same tactics that they did to destroy the social service organization ACORN a few years ago.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was an effective community activism organization that worked on voter registration, neighborhood safety, health care, and affordable housing for lower income families.  In 2009 two conservative activists made videotapes of staged interactions, which were selectively edited to make it appear that ACORN employees were encouraging criminal behavior related to voter registrations.

Without investigating their authenticity, media outlets splashed the controversy all over the news.   Conservatives used this to bolster its charges that ACORN regularly committed voter registration fraud.  Funding from government agencies for ACORN's social service work evaporated, and it could not survive, filing for Chapter 7 liquidation in November 2010.

Investigations by several state and city Attorneys General, as well as the U. S. General Services Organization, exonerated ACORN and found the videos to have been deceptively edited.   But it was too late to save what had been an invaluable social service group.

Now, similar anti-abortion activists are trying the same tactics to destroy Planned Parenthood.   But, unlike ACORN, PP has the resources to survive long enough to prove them wrong.   Now the most highly respected medical journal in this country, The New England Journal of Medicine, has taken up the cause and reported the following in its August 12, 2015 issue:

1.  An antiabortion activist, posing as a representative of a biomedical research company, secretly taped a conversation with a doctor from Planned Parenthood about details of obtaining fetal tissues for medical research purposes.  These are perfectly legal as long as they are voluntarily donated, not sold.   The tapes were then edited to make it appear that illegal payments were being discussed.

At least ten states have investigated the procedures at local PP clinics.  All have concluded that no laws were broken by PP.  The article goes on to say that "Every person in this country has benefited from research using fetal tissue. . . .  This attack represents a betrayal of the people whose lives could be saved by the research."

2.  Another article in this same issue of the NEJM states:  "The contraception services that Planned Parenthood delivers may be the single greatest effort to prevent the unwanted pregnancies that result in abortion. . . .  We are outraged by those who debase these women, this work, and Planned Parenthood by distorting the facts for political ends."

To these supporting facts from the NEJM, I would like to add that only 3% of the services provided by Planned Parenthood involve abortions.   For many low-income women, it is their main source of health care, including cancer screenings and contraceptive care.

But we have a group of conservative politicians pandering to the anti-abortion furor in this country.  In my August 10, 2015 post on ShrinkRap, I discussed how we think differently about when a fetus becomes a person.   I respect their right to have their own opinions, but we cannot allow fraudulent tactics and political lies to destroy necessary medical services for partisan political advantage.

If you agree with this, the best way to counter this nefarious scheme is to donate to Planned Parenthood and to vote against anyone who votes for or advocates defunding the non-abortion medical services of this worthy organization.

Ralph