Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spoke at the Washington Ideas Forum in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 1, 2015. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Thursday that the effort to take away federal funding from Planned Parenthood is an attempt by Republicans to take women back to the 1950s when women died and “committed suicide rather than go forward with a pregnancy they could not handle.”



“When I talk about 1955, I’m talking about a world where women died,” Warren said. “I’m talking about a world where women committed suicide rather than go forward with a pregnancy they could not handle.”



Warren was interviewed at the Washington Ideas Forum by CNN television host Jake Tapper, who asked her if anything she had seen on the undercover videos revealing top medical officials with the nation’s largest abortion provider discussing the harvesting and sale of aborted babies’ organs bothered her.

Warren said the debate in Congress isn’t about videos but about giving women access to health care services, including abortion.



“What this is really about is about women’s access to abortion,” Warren said. “And even though not one federal dollar goes to pay from abortions through Planned Parenthood, the Republicans want to find one more way to make it harder, to make it impossible, for a woman who is facing one of the most difficult decisions of her life.



“They want to find a way to make it harder on her to get the health care she needs, and all I can say is we’ve been in that world before,” Warren said.



“When I talk about 1955, I’m talking about a world where women died,” Warren said. “I’m talking about a world where women committed suicide rather than go forward with a pregnancy they could not handle, and what the Republicans are saying is they want to go back, and I want to make it clear we are not going back - not now, not ever.”