Rand Paul: Cut funding for Planned Parenthood

Sen. Rand Paul on Friday joined the chorus of conservative elected officials blasting Planned Parenthood based on the comments of one of its officials in a controversial video released this week by an anti-abortion group.

"The recent revelation that this taxpayer-funded organization is selling body parts of the unborn further proves that this agency deserves our scorn, not our tax dollars," Paul said in a statement released by his campaign for the Republican nomination for president.

Paul was referring to a video released by the California-based Center for Medical Progress that shows a Planned Parenthood official talking about parts of aborted fetuses. The Center for Medical Progress says the video documents that Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue for profit.

But Planned Parenthood says the charge is false. "The allegation that Planned Parenthood profits in any way from tissue donation is not true. Our donation programs, like any other high quality health care provider's, follow all laws and ethical guidelines," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, says in statement posted on the Planned Parenthood website.

Richards does apologize in her statement for the tone of comments in the video by a Planned Parenthood official — a tone that Richards said does not reflect "the compassionate care that we provide."

Paul said that next week he will use "all legislative vehicles at his disposal" to force a Senate vote "to immediately strip every dollar of Planned Parenthood funding." He said Planned Parenthood received about $528 million in taxpayer funding in 2013-14.

On Thursday the controversial video prompted Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Pence to direct Indiana's Department of Health to investigate Planned Parenthood in cooperation with the state attorney general. But Planned Parenthood's affiliate for Kentucky and Indiana does not participate in any tissue donation program, said Betty Cockrum, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky.

Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at (502) 875-5136. Follow him on Twitter at @TomLoftus_CJ.