I think it is really dangerous to let ourselves be controlled by fear
tactics. We have to look at this specific issue, of Planned Parenthood
and the allegations made against them, with patience and rational minds in order to more accurately examine whats going on here. First of all, the organization that released the videos- Center for Medical Progress- acted unethically and illegally. CMP secured tax-exempt status for their FAKE company which set out to illicitly and fraudulently defame PP. PP is a non-profit organization, thus all of its budgets and operating information is available to the public- the people that CMP sent in to infiltrate PP were dishonest and misleading. So already, from the start, we have agents working not to unveil a truth, but rather to scare, intimidate, and push their own agenda. Now while I can certainly respect how you feel about this issue, and can sympathize with the shock value of the videos, I also have to point out that the problem people seem to be having is not that PP is performing abortions which many other clinics also perform, and which also receive federal funding but that PP is allegedly trafficking fetal tissue. I agree this is a gruesome concept, and when confronted with the content of the videos it makes a lot of people (myself included) very uncomfortable. But if we compare the sound bytes in the videos to the actual transcript text, we begin to see a different story unfolding, one that continues to heavily discredit the authority and journalistic integrity" of the CMP. Much of what is in the 260 pages of transcripts is left out, altered, taken out of context, and otherwise manipulated to serve the purpose of framing PP as some sort of baby body part mill. This is NOT true. In fact, the use of fetal tissue for scientific research has been endorsed since the late 1980s when a panel of religious, medical, legal, and ethical experts deemed it morally acceptable to use this tissue for assistance in the research and treatment of major diseases. This was put into practice in 1993 with the approval of the National Institute of Health Revitalization Act, which legalized the research of fetal tissue, even in cases when it is obtained from LEGAL abortion procedures. And again in 1997, the Senate voted down an amendment to another research act that would have prohibited funding for research on aborted fetal tissue, recognizing the value to science and medicine. And interestingly enough, many of the pro-life Republican politicians who are speaking out against PP now are the same who voted in favor of these laws almost 20+ years ago. So with all that in mind, its clear that CMP is accomplishing what they set out to do: scare people. Control them with fear. And most importantly, prevent women (and millions of other people) from receiving adequate medical care. Because that is what this entire hoax
boils down to: using abortion baby body trafficking as a red
herring to distract from the ultimately sinister objective of removing access to healthcare for a lot of people and in the case of PP, not just women. Yes, there are other womens clinics over 4000 in the U.S. of which PP only makes up 13%. But even before the PP controversy, the House of Representatives appropriations committee voted to cut all funding for Title X Family Planning Program, which offers numerous services, especially for low-income women. This hoax is exactly what conservatives in Congress need to completely eliminate family planning and other womens health resources and this includes centers who do NOT provide abortion services. Health and safety are obviously NOT the priority here. And has been stated again and again the Hyde Amendment (which is a FEDERAL law) prohibits the use of federal funding for abortions anyway, so if were really worried about the morality of our tax dollars, we should be looking at the war on drugs, the prison industrial complex, police corruption and murder, and war spending. Just to name a few. Its easy to misdirect our anger at an institution like PP when our government is guilty of committing very real and much more damaging human rights violations of its own. I can understand why the reactions to the CMP videos have been so strong nobody, including myself, wants to believe or even consider that what they are claiming is true. And at the end of the day, I dont. But I dont think its vital that we approach this cautiously and wisely and be aware that behind all of the shock value and heavily manipulated footage is a very real, destructive agenda that might not be as pro-life as we think, and if we allow these videos as evidence to dictate whether Planned Parenthood and other clinics should receive federal funding, well be doing a lot of harm and, realistically, no good at all.