Congressional Republicans have essentially conceded that the heavily edited "sting" videos against Planned Parenthood show that the organization has done nothing illegal and that the congressional hearings and investigations they have planned for the coming months are nothing but a sham. But they don't give a damn about whether or not Planned Parenthood did anything illegal,
they plan to defund it no matter what.
"I don't know whether we're ever going to be able to answer that question, whether it was illegal for them to do what they were doing," Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) said during the House's first hearing on the topic Wednesday. "I don’t know if it was illegal … but it was immoral, what was seen on that video." […]
"The issue is not whether there's been a crime committed or not," Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas.) told the same group at the hearing. "This issue is whether or not taxpayers should fund Planned Parenthood. That's the issue before this committee."
Let's clarify that issue for Republicans: it's whether the federal government should be spending $500 million dollars on healthcare for women. Jeb! Bush
spoke for all Republicans when he said "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." Now they're just reiterating that by moving forward with their attacks on PP despite the fact that three House committees and six states have cleared the organization of any wrongdoing.
They just don't care about the facts. How much do they not care? Enough that a top Republican, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), admitted in the hearing that was supposedly about the issues raised in the videos, that they had not seen and were not interested in seeing the actual, unedited videos from Center for Medical Progress. "The answer is no that we are not," Franks told Democrat, Rep. David Cicilline (RI). "But I should suggest to you that we are in possession of enough of it to indicate that living, human, viable babies are being murdered at Planned Parenthood." Which, no, has not at all been proven. What's more, abortion is legal in this country. Federal funds don't go to abortion, they haven't since 1976. Planned Parenthood does not use federal funding in providing women their legal right to a safe abortion. Period.
Meanwhile, another hearing about Planned Parenthood is scheduled for this week. Just like last week's hearing, Planned Parenthood has not been invited by the committee to testify.