Planned Parenthood spending $20M to elect pro-abortion allies, with help from media

Planned Parenthood is mobilizing to get their pro-abortion allies elected, thanks to $20 million, but also thanks to a glowing feature from pro-abortion media like ThinkProgress.

As for Planned Parenthood’s stake in the election, ThinkProgress begins reporting by noting how the abortion giant views this election season as a “war,” and is “building… an army of pro-choice advocates trained in how to win political campaigns.”

Planned Parenthood also told ThinkProgress that a recent training session “is just one part of what… will be the most expensive electoral effort in its 100-year history.” Cecile Richards, president and CEO of the abortion chain, said, with added emphasis, “that her organization plans to spend at least $20 million to help win key Senate races and the presidency this November.”

Planned Parenthood officials explain how they wish to “flip the Senate,” and even the House in “probably two cycles…” Volunteers who were at a training event earlier this month also spoke about putting pro-abortion officials into office as well. These abortion advocates are right to fear pro-life success at the state level, as Planned Parenthood has already raised the alarm about the overwhelming amount of life-affirming laws passed this year.

But the abortion chain still wants to focus the conversation on the national level as well, with “one of the biggest goals” being “to get reproductive rights back into the national political conversation.”

Deirdre Schifeling, Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s executive director, says they’re “puzzled by the lack of discussion around the incredible rolling back of abortion access in this country.” It’s not shocking that the nation’s largest abortion chain would be “puzzled,”  but the reason why they see a “lack of discussion” may be because the abortion issue being handled as the country wishes to handle it —  through the voice of actual voters and their representatives (unlike the way Roe v. Wade came to be). Aside from this, more mothers are choosing life, and polls show that even those who claim to support abortion access don’t agree with Planned Parenthood’s extreme views.

Planned Parenthood has had a stake in elections before, spending $15 million to re-elect pro-abortion President Barack Obama. When Richards says her organization is going to get involved in this election, we should believe it. After all, the organization broke precedent to endorse Hillary Clinton in January, while Clinton has not yet officially become the Democratic presidential nominee.

Planned Parenthood is, of course, taxpayer funded, to the tune of over $550 million a year. These funds have continued to increase, while legitimate healthcare services provided by Planned Parenthood have been on the decline. So where is all that money going?

In September 2012, Steve Aden of Alliance Defending Freedom wrote of the possibility that the money spent by Planned Parenthood on elections was coming from its taxpayer funds. This concern was also raised more recently, by members of Congress, when Richards testified before the House Oversight Committee last September. As someone who was present for all near five hours of the testimony, I can note that this was one of many issues raised. Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), was concerned about funding for Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

After the hearing, the committee issued takeaways, including that “taxpayer dollars subsidize Planned Parenthood’s political affiliates.”  If you don’t want to fund Hillary Clinton’s campaign, that may be too bad for you, if Planned Parenthood is using taxpayer funds for its political action.

But ThinkProgress, which has published pro-abortion articles before, doesn’t just invite Planned Parenthood to explain their strategies at great length. This article is particularly biased, claiming that charges about Planned Parenthood’s selling of fetal tissue (currently being investigated by Congress, no less) are “false” and blames the videos for a shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood:

Power is something Planned Parenthood could use. Last year, an anti-abortion sting campaign falsely accused the organization of selling fetal tissue for profit, which led directly to renewed defunding efforts in Congress and, indirectly, to a shooting at one of the organization’s clinics. In the last year, the Republican-led Congress voted to defund Planned Parenthood at least eight times…

The “anti-abortion sting campaign,” comprised of videos from the Center for Medical Progress, actually showed top Planned Parenthood employees discussing the sale of tissue from aborted babies for profit. Planned Parenthood was not found innocent, but the pro-life investigators were the ones indicted by a grand jury, under questionable circumstances.

Congress had already been working to defund Planned Parenthood , years before CMP’s videos were released. Evidence from the videos provides further justification in defunding an organization which already receives plenty of money, and appears to have illegally profited from the sale of aborted baby body parts.

ThinkProgress is to note that Regarding November’s tragic shooting at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood, ThinkProgress is hardly the only media outlet to make the same accusation, claiming the shooting was “indirectly” related to the videos. But it’s even worse to make this accusation now knowing that shooter was found mentally incompetent to stand trial.

The numerous votes which have taken place would defund Planned Parenthood but would redirect those funds to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), which provide much more comprehensive health care.

That’s really something to champion, no matter who you are.