The hearings on Planned Parenthood's funding did not start well.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) suggested on Monday that both of his parents might be alive if the government had used Planned Parenthood funding for cancer research.
At a hearing inspired by anti-Planned Parenthood videos, Chaffetz opened by choking up as he explained that both of his parents had died from cancer.
Chaffetz continued his attacks today during
the appearance by Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. Richards put up a good fight:
Near the end of their testy back-and-forth, Chaffetz showed a slide that he said was from Planned Parenthood's annual report, showing a dramatic increase in abortions and a reduction in breast exams by the organization. Richards said she'd never seen the slide, which a colleague whispered to her was actually created by Americans United for Life, a fact Richards shared with the committee.
"I would check your source," Richards told Chaffetz.
Richards went on to say, about the authors of the fabricated videos currently circulating:
"It is clear that they acted fraudulently and unethically -- and perhaps illegally," Richards said in remarks prepared for her appearance Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "Yet it is Planned Parenthood, not Mr. Daleiden, that is currently subject to four separate congressional investigations."