You may have missed Wednesday’s frothing op-ed by RNC chair, Reince Priebus, in which he accused the media of covering up Planned Parenthood’s support of what he calls “infanticide.” As usual, it’s more right-wing hyperbole on parade so it’s high-time for us to rain on it, don’t you think?

Priebus refers to a Florida committee hearing on a topic that only the fevered pro-birth brains of the right could dream up. The hearing dealt with a politically charged Florida House bill, HB 1129, known as the “Infant Born Alive” measure. The bill deals with a situation that is flawed at its base, an event so unlikely that the birth of a twelve-fingered baby is more plausible. The bill seeks to ensure that any infant born alive…

“… during or immediately after an attempted abortion is entitled to all of the same rights as any other child born alive in course of natural birth.” (Source)

Remember, any comment apart from an expression of horror and disbelief constitutes support of whatever crazy idea they can dream up. So, when PP lobbyist Alisa LaPolt Snow tried to deflect a demand that she address this ridiculous hypothetical “botched abortion” situation with...

“We believe that any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician.”

… it was enough to send the pro-birth crowd into paroxysms of raving. The Weekly Standard posted a video of the hearing and Snow’s statement was taken as unequivocal proof that Planned Parenthood condones “infanticide.”

First of all, the idea that an abortion would be performed after the fetus becomes viable is nonsense. Florida does not allow abortions after that time. The chances that this predicament would ever be faced by any physician in Florida, or pretty much anywhere, is highly unlikely.





A Planned Parenthood representative responded to the so-called “controversy” before the Florida HHS Committee on Thursday:

“As a trusted health care provider, Planned Parenthood strongly condemns any physician who does not follow the law or endangers a woman’s or child’s health. And while HB 1129 addresses a situation that is extremely unlikely and highly unusual, if the scenario presented by the legislation should happen, of course a Planned Parenthood doctor would provide appropriate care to both the woman and the infant.”

The original draft of the bill had another provision that went so far beyond the pale as to be almost unbelievable. In that version, the mother in this implausible state of affairs would have all parental rights stripped from her. This was why Planned Parenthood opposed the bill in the first place, as they believed (and I do, too) that it had only one purpose: to intimidate and shame women. Officials of PP made the point that the assumption is implicit that any woman who would choose abortion is unfit to be a mother, a concept so moronic I’m sure a great many of us could refute it in a second. And it’s not something that the state has any right to be able to decide.

So, as usual, the inflammatory right-wing meme is full of fail. They grasp at any straw to be able to rag on Planned Parenthood, and that’s exactly what they did in this case. But, as you and I know, this is a libelous attack on an organization that has a long history of saving lives – both adult and infant. The most ridiculous part of this attack is that PP doesn’t even perform late-term abortions, the sole criteria for this highly hypothetical situation. They only do pregnancy termination in the first trimester, a time when no fetus would ever be viable. But the right-wing doesn’t let a little detail like that throw a wrench into their attacks. Planned Parenthood has saved more lives than their detractors can ever imagine by providing prenatal care, cancer screening, contraceptive services, STD testing and reproductive care to millions of women and infants. But that’s not something to which they give any thought.

The right-wing smear campaign against Planned Parenthood is insidious and never-ending. The very idea that women have a place where they can go to manage their own reproductive health just eats away at the pro-birth crazies. In their illogical fear and hatred of women, they try to destroy the only place women have exclusively dedicated to their care. This puts many women who don’t have access to Planned Parenthood clinics in danger of eventually having to have the very procedure – late-term abortion – that the right-wingers hate so much. But their hate and fear blind them to logic and reason, so they lash out at one of the only safe havens for women and babies. They have let their hearts guide their heads into such a twisted maze of stupidity that they will never emerge. But it’s the women who need care who will pay for it. It really is infuriating.

T. Steelman is a life-long Liberal. She has been writing online about politics since 2007. She lives in Western Washington with her husband, daughter, 2 cats and a small herd of alpacas. How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is, after all, so poorly lit…