It seems that nowadays more and more right wing conservatives are taking a stand against Planned Parenthood–for all the wrong reasons.
Take, for example, the videos released in 2015 claiming to expose the health care organization for selling body parts belonging to aborted fetuses. The videos themselves, masterfully cut and edited, show some sort of bargain deal between a Planned Parenthood employee and an actor hired by the Center for Medical Progress. However, upon further investigation (and an extensive look into the videos’ transcripts) the alleged negotiation is nothing short of a smear campaign against the non profit.
According to a CNN piece written by Errol Louis, “By law, women getting abortions can voluntarily donate the tissue from that procedure to medical research, and by law the abortion provider can request nominal reimbursement $30 to $100 in most cases — for saving, packing and shipping the tissue to a research firm.”
There have been several mentions of these videos among Presidential candidates during the GOP debates. Politicians such as Carly Fiorina have gone out of their way to openly criticize Planned Parenthood, stating that the organization aims to profit off of unlawfully harvested body parts.
If only these allegations were true.
Women’s health, specifically the right to abortions, is a heated debate that further separates the conservatives from the liberals. Smear campaigns such as this only provide misleading information, further emphasizing the divide between those who oppose it and those who don’t. The real question is this: What lengths will mainstream media conglomerates go to in order to spread misleading messages?
Cecilia Morales 