Conservatives continue attempts to take away a woman’s right to choose by demonizing Planned Parenthood through misinformation and fear mongering. Reince Priebus, the Chairman for the Republican National Committee wrote yesterday that mainstream media bias is responsible for covering up Planned Parenthood’s Democrat-backed support for infanticide. In his Member Diary on redstate.com, Priebus went on the attack about the obscure testimony of a Planned Parenthood representative, by saying that Planned Parenthood endorses post-birth abortion.
During testimony before the Florida Legislature, Republican legislators posed a series of hypothetical questions regarding extreme abortion cases. Planned Parenthood representative, Alisa LaPolt Snow responded to their questioning, “We believe that any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician.”
Snow stated that she is neither a physician nor an abortion provider, and added that she did not know about the procedure for the hypothetical situation the legislators posed. Immediately conservatives jumped on the opportunity to misconstrue the dialogue and insult the moral values of pro-choice advocates, the president, the Democratic Party, and mainstream media all in one fell swoop.
Based on Snow’s statements, Priebus asserted that Planned Parenthood doesn’t believe babies have rights. His McCarthy-style rant went on that Planned Parenthood has “the unwavering support of almost all elected Democrats.”
While Priebus’s attack wasn’t the best thing for the Republican Party’s image, which has purportedly been focused on “rebranding,” his wild accusations were successful in drawing negative attention. Planned Parenthood issued a statement addressing Priebus’s comments:
“Medical guidelines and ethics already compel physicians facing life-threatening circumstances to respond, and Planned Parenthood physicians provide high-quality medical care and adhere to the most rigorous professional standards, including providing emergency care. In the extremely unlikely event that the scenario presented by the panel of legislators should happen, of course Planned Parenthood would provide appropriate care to both the woman and the infant.”
Alisha Mims is a writer and researcher for Ring of Fire.
