While politicians call for investigations and write legislation defunding Planned Parenthood Federation of America, pro-life groups are planning rallies in more than 50 cities on Tuesday.
The rallies are in response to recently released undercover videos that capture Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting of fetal organs and prices associated with their disbursement to research facilities.
Critics say the family planning and abortion giant is harvesting and selling fetal body parts — even accepting orders for selected body parts and then manipulating abortions so the pre-ordered body parts are not “crushed” in the procedure.
Planned Parenthood officials say they are not profiting from this activity, but are assisting consenting women to donate their unborn children’s bodies for beneficial research, as permitted by law. Any funds collected are for processing and shipping of the fetal tissue, Planned Parenthood officials said.
The Center for Medical Progress has released two videos and plans to release as many as 10 more, said project leader David Daleiden.
The July 28 rallies are called #WomenBetrayed because Planned Parenthood has “betrayed the very patients — women and their children — who they claim to care about and have compassion for,” said Students for Life of America, led by SFLA President Kristan Hawkins.
A list of confirmed rallies in more than 50 cities includes the District, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Seattle.
Meanwhile, groups like the National Partnership for Women & Families are urging allies to support Planned Parenthood.
“Planned Parenthood, with more than 700 health centers, is a trusted health care provider for 2.7 million women each year,” Debra Ness, president of the national partnership, told allies in an email Friday.
“Extremists in Congress” are rushing to defund Planned Parenthood based on “misleading and heavily edited videos designed to deceive the public,” she said.
“Closing clinics and denying women health services are not what the nation wants,” she said, urging allies to call Congress to protect Planned Parenthood.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, has called for an investigation into Mr. Daleiden’s activities.
In contrast, Republicans in the House and Senate are planning hearings and calling for agency investigations into Planned Parenthood activities.
Governors and lawmakers in several states are also investigating Planned Parenthood activities.
Planned Parenthood currently receives more than $500 million a year in federal funding for its reproductive health care centers.
Planned Parenthood also performs about 1,000 abortions a day.
Under the Hyde amendment, taxpayer funds cannot be used for abortions unless the woman’s pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or endangers her life.
Pro-life supporters, however, are eager to defund Planned Parenthood.
”There are better things that we could do with $1 million per day,” Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, Pennsylvania Republican, said in an opinion piece released Friday.
“That’s more than the federal government spends on brain cancer research, colorectal cancer research, and lung cancer research,” said Mr. Pitts, who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health.
• Cheryl Wetzstein can be reached at cwetzstein@washingtontimes.com.
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