With their legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and redirect those federal funds to women’s health care facilities that don’t provide abortions, Senate Republicans say they are sending the message that their proposal is not about politics, but about the “moral fabric” of the nation.
At a news conference Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader
said the videos of Planned Parenthood medical officials engaged in harvesting the body parts of aborted babies for sale “shock the conscience.”
Referring to the GOP bill as one that will “ensure taxpayer dollars that are supposed to be spent on women’s health are, in fact, spent on women’s health.” McConnell said taxpayer funding should not be subsidizing “some scandal-plagued organization.”
, who introduced the legislation, said, “The recent footage depicting Planned Parenthood’s role in the harvesting of organs—heart, liver, kidneys—of unborn babies is morally reprehensible and vile.”
“The American people—Republicans and Democrats alike—are horrified at the utter lack of compassion shown by Planned Parenthood for these women and their babies,” she continued. “In fact, now, Hillary Clinton is calling these Planned Parenthood images ‘disturbing,’ and I agree.”
Asserting that the videos hit at the “moral fabric of our society,” Ernst said the issue at hand is “human life.” She stressed the legislation proposed would defund Planned Parenthood but make that funding available to other women’s health care facilities—such as community health centers and hospitals—that do not provide abortions.
“I want to make clear that there will be no reduction in overall federal funding available to support women’s health,” Ernst said.
Adding that, while the images and conversations seen in the videos have caused Americans to be “horrified” and “appalled,”
said what is particularly shocking is the “lack of compassion towards women and unborn children” on display by Planned Parenthood medical officials. Fischer echoed that the GOP legislation “targets funding for centers that truly prioritize and place that priority on women’s health.”
