Laura Ingraham was not in a journalistic mood last night. When I appear with Bill O’Reilly he at least gives me the opportunity to talk. It was clear after the first question that Laura wanted to echo what many of the anti-abortion groups are saying right now as an orchestrated campaign to try and frame Planned Parenthood as supporting sex trafficking. That is an outlandish claim and the only people who will believe it are the same people who continue to sit in their corner rather than develop common sense laws to reduce the amount of abortions and ensure women have access to preventative as well as prenatal care.
The video from last night’s show is below, but here are my thoughts that I wish I had the opportunity to share last night…
Once all the facts are sorted out, if it is found Planned Parenthood has holes in their reporting system they should fix it and get improved training for their staff.
Additionally, the groups that orchestrated the fake sex-ring should have to pay taxpayers back for the costs incurred of local and national authorities investigation into what they thought was a real multi-state sex ring.
To say one employee in New Jersey is representative of all Planned Parenthood employees is the same as saying the mortgage lenders from Bank of America that cheated military families represent all bankers and we should therefore shut all banks down.
Planned Parenthood fired the one employee who gave inappropriate information in New Jersey. They contacted local and national authorities immediately once they started to hear from local health centers that there was a pattern developing of individuals coming in asking about girls involved in underage sex.
A five minute domain search of the site all the anti-abortion groups are using to get attention on these videos, exposeplannedparenthood.com, shows that the site is being hosted by the same PR firm that does work for the RNC and other top GOP groups. So yes, that does raise red flags. Especially since the other talking point on the website and that the group leaders and media figures are using is that Planned Parenthood needs to be defunded and that people should support Rep. Pence’s bill to defund Planned Parenthood. Coordinated message and coordinate outcome.
If Republicans and their allied anti-abortion groups were serious about defunding Planned Parenthood and making abortion illegal, they had at least 8 years when they could have done this or at the very least make real attempts to do so. They didn’t. To try and pretend they could do that now is the same empty promise to drum up their base as repealing the health care law. I wish the groups would keep the GOP accountable for all the money and time they dedicate to get them elected and show no results for that work for the unborn or moms who need better access to prenatal and preventative care.
In addition to those points that I attempted to get out but wasn’t going to shout over Laura…
Anyone that has ever talked with me about the pro-life/pro-choice issue knows I am not a fan of either established/political side. For too long both have used each other for fundraising campaigns. Politicians have used the words “I am pro-life” or “I am pro-choice” to get elected. Then we watch them and they do nothing in office. Empty promises, empty words, empty labels.
That being said, I am also not going to sit on the sidelines and let a group (today it is Planned Parenthood tomorrow it could be another progressive group), that provides healthcare to millions of women each year be demonized for political theatre. Too many progressives and moderates sat on the sidelines when Acorn or Shirley Sherrod were demonized and it was a lesson learned.
In the age of the internet and growing divisive politics, this is to be expected. So, I am not surprised.
I will continue to stand up and speak out, knowing many others share the desire for our politics to return to a place where we can disagree on ideology and approaches but come together for solutions that move our communities and country forward.
