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Call Their Bluff
Planned Parenthood plays a nasty and fundamentally dishonest brand of politics. First, it — like all leftist organizations — argues that healthcare is a right. Second, it presents abortion as an integral part of “women’s health.” Third, it presents itself as he great champion of “women’s health.” As such, if you attack its status as America’s Largest Abortion Provider, you’re invariably against not only women’s health, but women’s rights and women in general and are probably the sort of person who saw Mad Max’s Immortan Joe as a paragon of family values.
For years, this has worked well for them, sufficiently so that they were able to survive the reveal that they were happy to negotiate sale price for accept reimbursement for the costs of disposing the remains of fetuses they’d killed. But Planned Parenthood didn’t escape totally unscathed and congressional Republicans rightly concluded that the Democrats’ continued reverence for — and capture by — the slimy, lying provider of some 300,0000 abortions a year is a political liability. That, in part, is likely what motivated Congress to use language in their Zika legislation that — quietly — excluded Planned Parenthood’s Puerto Rican affiliate from receiving funding to fight Zika:
The conference report (the bill that emerged from negotiations between top Senate and House Republicans) included two pots of money of particular importance for Puerto Rico. There was $80 million through the Social Services Block Grant program, and $40 million for community health centers. By and large, these dollars were targeted toward Puerto Rico, where the Zika virus has been transmitted widely by mosquitoes.
The words that limited how this money could be spent applied to the block grant program. Those dollars were “for health services provided by public health departments, hospitals, or reimbursed through public health plans.”
Helen Hare, spokeswoman for the Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told us this language cut out Profamilias, the Puerto Rican branch of Planned Parenthood.
Mind you, Congress is not proposing that any existing funding to Profamilias be cut. They still qualify for Medicaid reimbursement for non-abortion services (this is primarily how Planned Parenthood receives government funding) and are welcome to serve their clients through all their normal means, and however they see fit. The only question is whether they — or anyone else who doesn’t meet Congress’s proposed block grant criteria — must be included for the legislation to go forward.
It’s worth remember that Profamilias’ ability to curb the spread of Zika is, shall we say, hardly essential to the cause. According to the Politifact piece cited above, Profamilias served 8,000 people in 2015 — less than a quarter of a percent of the island’s population — and, again, its ability to serve those people would be unaffected by this legislation. And what, you ask, could Profamilias do to help? Via the Washington Examiner not much:
[Profamilias program director Marjorie] Vazquez said that if provided with additional funding, Profamilias could expand its efforts to educate women about Zika, its effects on fetuses and how it can be transmitted. But she noted the group doesn’t screen for the virus or work to prevent its spread outside sexual transmission.
“We are giving them condoms and we are also telling people to think about their choice in terms of pregnancy prevention,” Vazquez said.
Those services are provided by other health providers who focus more on primary care, Vazquez noted. She said that if a patient visited a Profamilia clinic suspecting she had the virus, she would be referred to another health center to be screened.
To recap, the Democrats are holding-up Zika funding because it excludes their favorite pet from a new revenue stream that would help it distribute condoms, sell pills, and install IUDs (all to a trivially small number of people)… which it is already doing. Because apparently no one else can. Typical Planned Parenthood hostage-taking politics.
Now, one might say, doesn’t this mean that Republicans are also playing politics, holding up the same important money just to skewer their preferred villain who wouldn’t even be able to directly use the money for said villainy? The answer is that yes, they are, even if I think they have the better argument. When you factor in media bias, it’s not surprising that it’s not the political slam-dunk it might otherwise be.
Though there may be a way around it by exposing the abortionists’ dishonest rhetoric: Keep the restrictions, but double the block grants. If they refuse, have Donald Trump — who has credibility as a non-hater of Planned Parenthood — shame the Democrats and drag Hillary Clinton into it. Then, keep them voting. Make it an election issue exposing the Democrats’ favoritism to a favored lobby at the expense of American citizens. Show that it’s not about the substance of the matter — we want to double the funding! — but about how the Democrats are beholden to a special lobby.
It’d be a good fight.
Published in General
You expect that out of them? Really? When have they engaged in a “good fight” ever?
But wait, you expect them to engage in a “Good fight” when Clinton is sitting in the White House, so maybe you do think it will happen.
Here is my prediction: GOP caves, Democrats win.
If conservatives really wanted to call PP’s bluff they would immediately found women’s health clinics all over the country that specifically refuse to perform abortions. Then apply for federal funding and see what the Democrats do.
There are enough wealthy conservatives out there to make this happen.
Profamilias – really?
Oh, it’s even worse than that. In the Nevada Senatorial race between Congressman Joe Heck (R) and former state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto (D) (which, I must admit, is particularly dirty and distasteful on both sides) there are endless ads attacking Heck for having voted to defund Planned Parenthood. To watch these ads, you would think that the only thing Planned Parenthood does is early screening for breast cancer, and that Heck’s position is that he wants women to die of breast cancer. This is particularly silly, since Heck is a physician (among other things). Abortion is never mentioned, much less selling of fetal tissue.
In one particularly obnoxious version of this theme, an actress comes on screen claiming that she is a Republican, but will not vote for Heck because of his position on Planned Parenthood. As if being pro-life was such an extreme and unheard of position for a Republican that even other Republicans can’t stomach it. I don’t know who is supposed to be fooled by this nonsense, but I certainly hope no one is.
This is a running theme.
It’s a variation of The Big Lie. Say something with enough righteous indignation, and just maybe your audience will take the bait. It’s rhetoric-by-attitude.
Dr Heck is a very good man being attacked by the full force of the DNC.
I think you may have missed a point Four in your opening paragraph:
“Planned Parenthood is also a great abortion champion OF women.”
I thought trashing Republicans only helps Democrats win. ;)
Drop the “only” and you are correct.
Fantastic idea.
Which makes me wish that those wealthy conservatives read the member feed and comments sections at Ricochet.
Hey Tom. I got a peak at their hand in the photo atop this article.
They’re not bluffing.
Since its founding as an anti-black, anti-Catholic ethnic, white supremacist undertaking, Planned Parenthood has been the darling of powerful rich white people. Being able to force Congress to pump ridiculous amounts of money into PP, gives another generation of rich white people the reassurance that they are still in charge and that the national values will reflect their enlightened preferences.
It has only been since the Reagan era that the GOP was opposed to PP’s place at the federal trough. The old Rockefeller wing of the party was the original home of PP. PP was created by those who hated the idea of waves of Negro, Irish, Italian, Jewish and other inferiors overwhelming their racial superiors. It is telling that the Democratic party is now the Planned Parenthood party. It is the most conclusive proof that they have long since abandoned their core constituents in favor of the sensibilities of a privileged few.
They are called Crisis Pregnancy Centers. They exist already.
Maybe that’s our hand? ;)
Perhaps Trump’s team is reading this and will adopt it as part of their campaign strategy. But I doubt it. I’m not sure how riling up Hillary’s base and highlighting that Trump is a squish on Planned Parenthood will help Trump win votes from any sector of the political spectrum.
Smart money would agree with that bet.
Then, yes. I think we should probably call their bluff.
By the way, some of my buddies and I are planning a poker game for this Saturday, and I don’t know if you’re busy, but we’re wondering…
There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of such clinics around the country. Here in Billings we have LaVie, which provides pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, assistance in the way of baby food, formula, cloths (both for the child and the mother), some financial support, counseling, and many other services. LaVie also offers post-abortion counseling for women who go ahead with an abortion but then develop psychological problems in the aftermath. (And I can personally attest to the despair of women having met several who have asked for help. Someday I’ll write about one extraordinary case). But these centers do not accept nor seek government funding because they know that onerous strings are attached. They flourish with private support. Just as an example, our state Knights of Columbus recently provided an out of town center with a $200,000 ultrasound machine. Local physicians read the tests for nothing. One radiologist here spends half a day each week reading and then discussing the results from mothers. She does the readings in the early morning hours and meets with mothers mid-day. Post-abortion counseling is provided by women who have themselves had abortions and have been trained to help women overcome the suffering, grief, and guilt. My local prolife group has referred at least a dozen women to LaVie for help. We have also referred a couple of men who suffer from post-abortion guilt and sense of loss.
Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other abortion loving groups hate these centers and continue to engage in an attack, including efforts to use the power of the state to close them down. The abortion industry will truck no dissent and will happily use whatever power is available to shut down anyone who dares challenge abortion on demand. That is one reason the centers refuse to even seek government funding.
I mean clinics specifically dedicated to non-pregnancy related women’s health issues. PP always talks about the breast exams, gynecological wellness exams etc that they do. I saw take pregnancy out of the equation all together and put forth a clinic to deal with just these issues. Call their bluff of the other stuff.
If the Republicans were only smart and courageous enough to take actions like this one, Donald Trump would not be their candidate.
I recognize this – what I meant was to divorce the concept of “women’s healthcare” from “women’s reproductive healthcare”. We’ve ceded the ground to the left that “women’s healthcare” means “pregnancy related issues” – there is much more to it than that and if we can regain that territory we can undercut PPs rhetoric on the matter.
Tom, just remember my advice from Dime’s ten word challenge: If you can’t spot the sucker, it’s probably you.
I get what your saying but why limit it. Planned parenthood only propagandizes that it’s a women’s health clinic. There is nothing planned parenthood does that a community health clinic does with the exception of abortion (which is where they make their money). They do STD Testing ( for men and women), pregnancy tests, pelvic exams, birth control… Etc. any community health clinic already does those things. So to create non abortion women’s health clinics would be redundant
Cute, but does not really answer my point.
Hi Mike,
Please do. By now, the incidence of such cases has increased so, I think I might be starting to detect them. In certain social settings, such as those with other peoples’ growing children, someone will suddenly have a look of pain.
I buy that.
Actually Planned Parenthood does not screen for breast cancer. They receive funding to refer women to clinics that do the actual screening for breast cancer. Planned Parenthood not only makes money killing human beings they also make money pimping referrals for exams that they do not conduct.
Apologies for using the word “pimping”. I should have used Hillary’s PC “Deplorable”. Cop speak is a bad habit I’m still working to get rid of. Ending a sentence with a preposition is also on the list.
What for?
You guys might know this: is PP a donor to the DNC, or just a pet of the DNC? They seem to wield considerable power for a group that—presumably—isn’t giving big to the Clinton Foundation; is this pure principle at work?