As Planned Parenthood comes under increasing fire from Republicans on Capitol Hill and on the 2016 campaign trail following the release of an undercover video, Hillary Clinton’s campaign released a video Monday slamming the GOP for targeting the group.
“If this feels like a full-on assault on women’s health, that’s because it is,” Clinton said in the two-minute video. “When politicians talk about defunding Planned Parenthood, they’re talking about blocking millions of women, men, and young people from life-saving preventive care… They’re talking about cutting people off from the health care provider they know and trust.”
Planned Parenthood has once again come under attack after an anti-abortion group released sting video featuring activists posing as medical researchers discussing fetal tissue transactions with employees of the non-profit. Planned Parenthood, which provides reproductive health services as well as abortions, has been a frequent target of Republicans.
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“Unfortunately, these attacks are not new – they’re more of the same,” Clinton says. She went on to mention by name three Republican governors by name who are running for president. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker left women “stranded” when he pushed to defund Planned Parenthood, Clinton said. She went on to accuse former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Bush invested in abstinence-only education while “gutting” preventative funds, and she said Texas Gov. Perry drastically cut funding for breast and cervical cancer screenings.
W”When they attack women’s health, they attack America’s health, and it’s wrong,” she said. “I’m proud to stand with Planned Parenthood.”
In the wake of the controversy, Clinton has defended the women’s health care group, but also called the undercover video “disturbing.” Still, she seems eager to discuss the issue. At a press conference after meeting with the AFL-CIO on Thursday, Clinton returned the podium after walking away to field a reporters’ question on Planned Parenthood.
“I think it is regrettable that Republicans are once again trying to undermine, even end those services that so many women have needed and taken advantage of,” she told reporters. “I think that it’s another effort by the Republicans to try to limit the health care options of women and we should not let them succeed once again.”
Alex Seitz-Wald