 |
| "Gotcha now Planned Parenthood." |
Of course the source of Palin's faux outrage is a second video released by the group "The Center for Medical Progress" that purports to show the same money for fetal parts operation that the first video failed to show.
As usual this Facebook post is really a way to drive traffic to Brancy's blog where Nancy French has her outrage dialed up to 11:
Pro-abortionist groups told us we were twisting the words of the doctor from the first video. S he didn’t really mean to imply she was selling baby parts. Her tone was wrong, but what she was doing was right. All lies! They are selling baby parts! And this second video is proof of just how widespread the selling of butchered baby parts by Planned Parenthood really is.
This evil has to stop! We have to call on our leaders in Washington to stop Planned Parenthood once and for all!
"This evil has to stop?" Okay no more Red Bull for you.
Of course news outlets were quick to point out that this video, even more than that first one, proves that the people behind it are outright lying about what it shows.
This from the Daily Beast:
The video has been edited to highlight specific comments of Gatter’s that make the conversation seem like a negotiation over profits—comments like, “Why don’t you tell me what you’re used to paying?”
This time around, however, the CMP has also included statements by Gatter that debunk the idea that Planned Parenthood affiliates profit from the practice.
“We’re not in it for the money,” Gatter makes it clear to the CMP actors at one point.
“We don’t want to be in the position of being accused of selling tissue and stuff like that,” she says. “On the other hand, there are costs associated with the use of our space, and all that kind of stuff.”
The CMP actors twice offer $100 per specimen but we never see Gatter commit to accepting that amount, only to “find[ing] out what other affiliates in California are getting.” She emphasizes to who she thought were biotech buyers that their “volume is so low,” referring to the fact that second-trimester abortions are relatively rare.
In other words instead of helping to fan the outrage caused by the first video, intelligent viewers will see that it undermines the case made by those distributing it.
And here is more courtesy of Slate:
While this new video is kicking off another round of disingenuous posturing from Republican officials and demands to "investigate" the non-crime of donating fetal tissue, the real story here is not unethical behavior on the part of Planned Parenthood, but on the part of anti-choice activists. As Eli Clifton and I reported for The Nation last week, the Center for Medical Progress shares leadership with the radical anti-choice organization, Operation Rescue, that devoted itself to harassing George Tiller until he was murdered by one of their regular activists in 2009. (Operation Rescue’s senior policy advisor Cheryl Sullenger also did time for an attempted clinic bombing in the 1980s.) These folks promise they have more videos coming, of course. That's what Live Action always promised and it's no surprise that their apparent spin-off would do the same. What would be a surprise is if any of these videos actually showed any wrongdoing.
And then there is this from Think Progress:
Live Action, a group founded by leading abortion opponent Lila Rose when she was just 15 years old, has become infamous for conducting undercover “stings” designed to discredit Planned Parenthood. Live Action typically releases videos that have been heavily edited to cast abortion providers in an unflattering light; however, upon further scrutiny, their claims that Planned Parenthood is breaking the law don’t hold up.
For instance, Rose has previously claimed that she has evidence that Planned Parenthood employees cover up sex trafficking, lie about providing mammograms, and profit off of abortions — allegations that cannot be backed up with evidence.
The recent videos are no exception. Though abortion opponents say they provide proof that Planned Parenthood is breaking federal laws by selling organs, fetal tissue donation has in fact been legal for decades. They’re also edited to appear more nefarious; in the full transcript of the first video, for instance, Nucatola says several times that the organization is not “selling” tissue, but rather being compensated for the cost of transporting the donations. “Nobody should be ‘selling’ tissue. That’s just not the goal here,” she says at one point.
I think it is beyond clear to critical thinkers that this whole thing is carefully edited bullshit. The problem is that those who are rabidly anti-choice and hate Planned Parenthood with every fiber of their being, are to critical thinking what Bristol Palin is to birth control.
In other words no connection whatsoever.
These videos are edited to cause low information viewers, already predisposed to be anti-choice, to fly into a rage at the thought that Planned Parenthood is selling aborted baby parts for a profit. It is exactly the kind of misinformation that resulted in the bombing of health clinics and the murder of Dr. Tiller.
And there is every possibility that we will see a similar reaction this time around.
You know I really used to think I could never think less of Sarah Palin than I did after the Gabby Giffords incident. Guess who was wrong about that?
Posts
