Bodies of Evidence Don't Deter Abortion Allies
It didn't take long for a federal judge to block some of the Planned Parenthood footage — and now we may know why.
According to records, federal Judge William Orrick has an interesting political connection to the man who once said, "God bless Planned Parenthood." Not only was he appointed by this president but, as documents show, raised $200,000 for Obama's campaign.
The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway uncovered the link over the weekend and suggested that maybe Judge William Orrick's deep ties to the most pro-abortion President in history had something to do with his unusually quick ruling. Within hours of filing the restraining order, the National Abortion Federation celebrated Orrick's decision to suppress the footage.
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Unfortunately for the White House and friends, the courts can't keep a lid on CMP's videos forever. As Heritage's Hans von Spakovsky points out, pro-lifers have other ways to bypass President Obama's truth police.
"No federal or state judge," he explains, "has the authority to prevent a congressional committee from holding a hearing at which witnesses — like representatives of CMP — testify about their experiences or where the committee presents evidence it has obtained such as the undercover videos, which could also be posted on the committee's website."
This, he explains, may be one option for guaranteeing that the public sees all the evidence against an organization that their tax dollars keep afloat.
Meanwhile, Congress may be going away — but the Planned Parenthood issue isn't. After the Senate broke for August recess Friday, the political pressure cooker will only get hotter back home when members hear from unhappy voters firsthand. Even moderate Republicans like Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) seemed to acknowledge that Congress had a lot more work to do to protect the integrity of taxpayer dollars — and human beings. Despite having a bipartisan majority to defund Planned Parenthood on Monday, the Senate couldn't overcome the 60-vote procedural hurdle enjoyed by the Cecile Richards's supporters, who continue to be unmoved by the spine-chilling revelations.
That vote, Cornyn insisted, "isn't the end of it. This will be the beginning." Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who has a long track record of fighting the abortion industry's corruption, agreed. "This almost certainly becomes part of any final decision about how to move forward on funding. There will be a larger discussion on this."
For Republicans, the question isn't whether to cancel Planned Parenthood's government checks, but how. Some, like Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), think Congress should use "any and every procedural means we have available to end funding for Planned Parenthood." Others are more cautious. But when even MSNBC is calling for taxpayer alternatives to Cecile Richards's group, you know the organization is in trouble. MSNBC morning host Joe Scarborough got visibly frustrated when Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) claimed that defunding Planned Parenthood would increase the abortion rate.
"How in the world do we prevent abortions by taking away money for birth control for millions of women across the country?" she argued.
Annoyed, Scarborough fired back, "I think there are a lot of people who believe in a woman's right to choose who wouldn't support federal funding for Planned Parenthood. They aren't the only people that can hand out birth control."
Of course, you wouldn't know that from most liberals. Like McCaskill, the president's party is resorting to outright lies to justify Planned Parenthood's funding. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) exaggerations were so over the top that PolitiFact gave him a "pants-on-fire" rating. During the floor debate last week, Reid declared that Planned Parenthood is "the only health care that a significant number of women get. About 30 percent of women, that's their health care."
That's about 39 million women, according to U.S. Census data. How is that possible, PolitiFact pointed out, when the most recent Planned Parenthood report says it only saw 2.7 million women in all of 2013?
"Even if every Planned Parenthood patient had no other health care options," the paper clarified, "the group would have seen about 2 percent of women, not 30 percent."
When PolitiFact contacted Reid's office about it, a spokesman said he "got the talking point wrong." In this case, the reporters concluded, "he got it really wrong."
The abortion industry and its supporters may traffic in a lot of things, but the truth is not one of them.
