During a panelist discussion on Sunday’s edition of This Week with George Stephanopoulos, conservative columnist George Will posed the rhetorical question that many Americans are asking, “Since when did Planned Parenthood become a synonym for ‘American Women’?”
Will’s question is a legitimate one. Planned Parenthood’s abortion agenda is far outside of the mainstream of where most American women stand. According to recent Gallup polling, even a majority of pro-choice Americans disagree with many of the policies that Planned Parenthood promotes.
Rather than admit that Planned Parenthood’s agenda does not represent most women, Democratic strategist and enthusiastic supporter of President Obama Donna Brazile falsely stated that Planned Parenthood is important to women because they “provide…mammograms and other services.”
This is not the first time Planned Parenthood and their surrogates have falsely claimed that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms at their clinics. Shortly after Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards made the statement on The Joy Behar Show in 2011, the pro-life group Live Action, led by Lila Rose, investigated the claim and found that Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms. Since then, actresses, politicians, political strategists, and other Planned Parenthood surrogates have continued to spread this lie as a tactic to defend Planned Parenthood and to distract the American people from their profit driven, abortion-focused agenda.
So far, the effort to distract has failed. The 2010 elections gave the U.S. House a pro-life majority, and Planned Parenthood lost $60 million in state funding in 2011. As the pro-choice movement continues to dwindle, Planned Parenthood’s approval is expected to decline.
In 2012, we can expect that Planned Parenthood and its allies will continue to spread the “mammogram” lie, but an educated American public will call their bluff in November and beyond.
