Eight Things We Learned from Planned Parenthood's 'Proud' Boss
Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards testified before Congress Tuesday.
By Al Perrotta Published on September 30, 2015 •
Al Perrotta
What did we learn from Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards in testimony Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee investigating the organization's federal funding in the wake of revelations about its harvesting and trafficking of baby body parts?
1. We learned that Richards is "proud" of Planned Parenthood's role in fetal tissue research.
Here's one reminder of what Richards is so proud of, courtesy of whistleblower Holly O'Donnell, as reported by The Stream on August 19.
O'Donnell tells the story of a woman seeking an abortion at the Alameda Planned Parenthood clinic who was very upset. "Finally she calmed down and the doctor went in to perform the abortion. It takes a little while, and I'm in the hallway. I see the jar come out, goes into the path lab, and Jessica [her coworker] I can hear is preparing it, rinsing out the jar, rinsing out the linen … then I hear her call my name… 'Come over here, I want you to see something kinda cool, this is kinda neat.' The moment I see it, I'm just flabbergasted. This is the most gestated fetus and closest thing to a baby I've seen."
Then her coworker takes an instrument, "just taps the heart, and it starts beating."
O'Donnell was then ordered to cut open the child's head.
This eyewitness testimony is what Carly Fiorina was describing at the CNN debate, the video defenders are desperately trying to discredit.
2. Richards still claims the videos from the Center for Medical Progress were "deceptively edited."
Apparently, Richards didn't check the news on her way up to Capitol Hill. A cybersecurity and forensic analysis company called Coalfire System analyzed the 10 "full-footage videos" put out by CMP. The videos, they concluded in a report released before the hearing, "are authentic and show no evidence of manipulation or editing."
3. Cecile Richards earns $520,000 a year.
If you're willing sell your soul the devil is willing to pay top dollar. That $520,000 a year, by the way, could pay for 5,200 mammograms.
4. Not a single Planned Parenthood clinic has a mammogram machine.
Though supporters do so regularly, Richards says she never claimed Planned Parenthood conducts mammograms. Her clinics point women to where they can get mammograms. Then again, so does Siri. (The $450 million in federal funding for Planned Parenthood could purchase 600,000 iPhone 6s's.)
5. Although Richards says abortions only count for 3% of Planned Parenthood's total activities, abortions count for 86% of Planned Parenthood's non-governmental revenue.
If 86% of a restaurant's business comes from fried chicken, we call it a chicken joint. Doesn't really matter how many sides are on the menu.
6. Democrats think that questioning a woman about the half a billion tax dollars her organization pockets is "misogyny."
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) made the amazing accusation during the hearing — an accusation made even more amusing when one considers that some of heaviest fire came from Rep. Cynthia Lummins (R-Wy.), Rep. Diana Black (R-Tn.) and Rep. Mia Love (R-Ut.), all decidedly female.
To the larger issue: A woman who doesn't sweat the dismembering and marketing of babies is going to wilt under a few tough questions from politicians? Especially a woman who came — intact, I might add — out of the womb of the legendary Ann Richards? Who knew Democrats considered females today so weak?
7. Cecile Richards doesn't use Planned Parenthood for her own health care.
8. In Cecile Richards' view, "abortion is health care."
Rep. Black was so shocked by that bit of Orwellian wisdom she had to tweet it out:
Wow. @CecileRichards just told me in @GOPOversight that abortion is healthcare. As a nurse, I will challenge that every time. #ProLife
— Diane Black (@RepDianeBlack) September 29, 2015
Cecile Richards Learned Some Things Too!
For all that we "learned" from Cecile Richards Tuesday, the hearing taught her some things as well.
When shown a graph that depicted breast exams plummeting and abortions skyrocketing during her tenure at Planned Parenthood, Richards expressed shock. She insisted it didn't represent what is happening at the clinics. Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Ut.) noted that the numbers came from Planned Parenthood's own reports.
Richards also said she didn't "remember that particular video of Holly O'Donnell" describing the harvesting of a baby's brain, even though that particular vignette has been all over the news since Carly Fiorina discussed it in the debate.
Most astounding, when asked if babies who survive abortions should be given medical care, Richards replied, "I have never heard of such a circumstance happening."
The Stream's Anika Smith tweeted from the hearing room:
Richards "never heard of" infants surviving abortion procedure. Was she paying attention to the other hearings where survivors testified?
— Anika Smith (@anikapanika) September 29, 2015
Congress was just debating the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. Richards wasn't paying attention to that either? Or during the couple decades it's been an issue?
One should expect a little more for $520,000 a year.
Which gets us back to money, and the whole purpose of these House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearings: The federal funding of Planned Parenthood in light of the gruesome, systematic baby marketing exposed by the Center for Medical Progress.
At the start of Tuesday's hearing, Committee Chairman Chaffetz asked the $450 million question: "Does Planned Parenthood really need federal dollars?"
For that, CEO Cecile Richards had no suitable answer. No answer that could be heard over the voices in those videos and those urged to "#shoutyourabortion." No answer that could be heard over the awful silence of the exterminated children considered by Planned Parenthood as mere tissue and revenue.
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