Anti-choice activists began planning their next political moves on Tuesday, after a video was released of a Planned Parenthood Federation of America staffer discussing fetal tissue donation with someone claiming to represent a medical company. The people behind the secretly taped encounter claim that the video proves Planned Parenthood sells fetal body parts, which is illegal. And the nonchalance with which Dr Deborah Nucatola, Senior Director of Medical Services for the organization, discusses the details of abortion procedures has added fuel to the fire.

In response, Republicans have denounced Planned Parenthood and Louisiana governor and presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal called for a criminal investigation into the organization.

The truth of the video, however – which was released by a previously unheard-of organization led by a man who has described himself as an “amateur varanid keeper” – is that it shows nothing illegal. It does demonstrate, however, that the pro-choice movement’s understandable hesitance to discuss the details of abortion procedures is a weapon easily wielded against them.

For most people, it is probably difficult to watch Nucatola discuss how second-trimester abortions are performed while eating a salad and downing red wine – though, I also imagine many of us might get a bit queasy hearing about most medical procedures over the dinner table. But even as a person who has had two abortions, I cringed while listening to her talk about taking care during terminations to remove the fetus in such a way that vital organs and tissue are saved. This is not easy stuff to go through; it is not easy to hear about.

Abortion is a medical procedure, and the reality of medical procedures are not pleasant. But that’s not a reason to make abortion illegal, or nearly impossible to access, which is the the goal of this video. The man behind it wants you to be horrified enough that you’ll nod along in agreement - or at least stand by - as Republican politicians erode women’s rights to reproductive health.

Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures in this country: 1 in 3 American women will have an abortion and 95% of them will not regret it. But many do have complicated, very personal feelings about ending their pregnancies. Often as not, they don’t want to talk about them – let alone have them talked about in startlingly medical terms. So many abortion providers eschew doing so out of a sense of sensitivity to their patients and because they’re aware that public perception has a very real impact on keeping abortion safe and legal.

Politicians and journalists don’t tell nuanced and complicated stories very well; they rely on quick and visceral reactions and binary feelings (support or opposition). That’s why the anti-abortion strategy of using visceral photos or scientific discussions to scare people is often so effective. But that doesn’t make it the truth.

For instance, donating fetal tissue –which is used in research to help find cures for illnesses like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease – is legal. And the full unedited version of the video shows Nucatola explaining that costs for staff time and possible shipping costs are reimbursed so that Planned Parenthood affiliates, which are nonprofit organizations, don’t lose money.

“The bottom line is that they want to break even, every penny they save is just pennies they give to another patient to provide a service,” she says in the tape.

In a statement, Planned Parenthood Vice President of Communications Eric Ferrero says the same thing: “There is no financial benefit for tissue donation for either the patient or for Planned Parenthood. In some instances, actual costs, such as the cost to transport tissue to leading research centers, are reimbursed, which is standard across the medical field.”

No matter how legal the events in the video are, in the days to come, I’m sure we’ll see a renewed Republican effort to attack and even defund Planned Parenthood. Not because the organization has done anything illegal, but because people don’t like watching a doctor describing abortion in a matter-of-fact way over lunch.

I get it. I understand the discomfort, because I felt it too. But I’d much rather be uncomfortable in a world where Planned Parenthood exists and provides much-needed care to those who need it than blissfully ignorant in a world where it doesn’t.