Planned Parenthood Begs Media: Stop Covering Our Scandal

Planned Parenthood is in real trouble. Three shocking videos released over recent days -- with more on the way, apparently -- have shown officials at the abortion giant haggling over the price of aborted baby organs. It's ghastly, gruesome stuff, replete with one representative describing how she alters her late term abortion procedures to "crush" the baby in specific areas as to preserve sought-after and lucrative body parts. Another laughs that higher prices could help her buy "a Lamborghini." The abortion lobby argues that fetuses are not human beings worthy of legal protection, while selling the intact human organs of the "non-people" they kill. Besieged by negative headlines and a horrified public, Planned Parenthood has hired a crisis PR firm, which is attempting to mitigate the damage via the application of

heavy pressure on media outlets (many of which are dominated by abortion supporters) to to ignore or soft-pedal the story:

How bad is the baby organ trafficking story for Planned Parenthood? So bad that the nation’s largest abortion provider has hired a pricey PR firm to bully media outlets into not covering the scandal. According to Politico, Planned Parenthood hired Democratic megafirm SKDKnickerbocker to handle its public relations effort surrounding the widening organ trafficking scandal. In a series of undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, multiple top Planned Parenthood executives are captured haggling over the prices of aborted baby body parts and discussing ways to maximize money earned through the harvesting and sale of human organs. Unsurprisingly, preventing coverage of the videos is apparently key to Planned Parenthood’s survival strategy: "The group circulated a memo to reporters and producers late Monday that discouraged them from airing the undercover videos, arguing that they were obtained under false identification and violated patient privacy."

Whose privacy are they protecting, exactly? Not the women who underwent abortions, who aren't identified at all in the videos. Surely they're not referring to the late-term fetuses they dismember and sell as "patients," are they? Senate Republicans have fast-tracked a bill that would defund Planned Parenthood of taxpayer dollars. Such a development is long overdue, though President Obama is sure to veto any measure that would harm his radical allies and donors. Nevertheless, this legislation is necessary, and having a female Senator -- Joni Ernst -- as the lead sponsor of the bill is a savvy move. So is

GOP senators unveiled a bill Tuesday evening prohibiting federal aid to Planned Parenthood and directing that the money instead be directed to "other eligible entities to provide women's health care services." Aides said an initial vote on the measure, sponsored by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, was likely early next week. The bill cites state and local health departments, federally backed community health centers and other providers of health services to women who might get the money. Republicans were hoping that might encourage Democrats to pull funds away from Planned Parenthood, which even some abortion-rights Democrats have avoided defending since the videos were released. Citing the "horrendous videos," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a co-sponsor, said, "This legislation would ensure taxpayer dollars for women's health are actually spent on women's health — not a scandal-plagued political lobbying giant."

So the legislation would not cut one cent from women's health funding. It would redirect taxpayer dollars away from what McConnell aptly terms "a scandal-plagued political lobbying giant." Senate Democrats are predictably lining up to oppose the bill, led by the contemptible Harry Reid, who has cast himself as "pro-life" in the past:

"Good luck," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said of the uphill Republican drive to garner the 60 of 100 Senate votes they will need to cut off Planned Parenthood's money. "We're dealing with the health of American women, and they're dealing with some right-wing crazy."

Stripping federal funding from a late-term abortion racket that sells body parts for cash is "right-wing crazy," according to the Democratic leader. Another "pro-life" Democrat, Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, has said he'd oppose Republicans' defunding effort, repeating the abortion lobby's talking points conflating abortion with women's health services. Nevertheless, a number of Democrats are distancing themselves from Planned Parenthood. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin signed a letter along with 49 Republican Senators expressing concerns over the "deeply disturbing" practices depicted in the undercover videos. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine called the videos' contents "extremely troubling," and Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly has come out in support of an investigation into Planned Parenthood, calling the videos "disgraceful and disturbing." Even Hillary Clinton, casting about for ways to defend the embattled abortion titan, suggested that all abortion clinics' practices regarding the selling of fetal body parts ought to be investigated. For its part, Planned Parenthood is refusing to participate in an investigatory hearing held in the Texas legislature, instead deploying its spinning-like-a-top president all over the press to insist that they've done nothing illegal. Will she repeat her assertions under oath? What ugliness or contradictory evidence may lurk in the yet-unreleased videos?