For some reason, I watched a little of yesterday's Congressional Hearings on Planned Parenthood. Remember when Congressional Hearings were sometimes not about the party in power trying to gin up scandals for political purposes? This one seemed especially bogus as Republican Congressguy Jason Chaffetz tossed accusation after accusation at Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards and tried real hard not to let her respond.
The Grand Finale was, as Kevin Drum explains, a chart Chaffetz unveiled which asserted that Planned Parenthood was seriously increasing its abortions and seriously decreasing other health services. Chaffetz claimed he'd compiled the chart from info in Planned Parenthood's own reports but that was, to use a term most folks reading this will understand, a lie. It was actually designed by a notorious anti-abortion group that…well, Mr. Drum explains how misleading their graphics people can be.
This whole attack on Planned Parenthood is an incredible sham. For years, no one had a problem with fetal tissue transfer. It was thought to be a good thing which aided researchers. Then someone got the idea that Planned Parenthood could be slimed by passing it off as "selling baby body parts" and the modest transfer reimbursement costs could be made to look like profiteering. I'm surprised someone isn't going after cornea and heart transplants as the barbaric selling of adult body parts.