You know it’s bad when the media start bashing Planned Parenthood – with pro-choice arguments.
The New York Post Editorial Board argued that the recent Planned Parenthood videos “show a failure to put women’s rights first” in an August 16 piece. While the board normally stays silent on abortion, they said, the videos demanded attention for breaching “pro-choice ethics.”
“We generally avoid the abortion wars, because minds are so made up,” the board began. But they called the videos exposing Planned Parenthood “another matter” that they couldn’t ignore – because the videos “suggest violations of pro-choice ethics.”
That’s a pretty low bar: pro-choice ethics (if there is such a thing). But Planned Parenthood managed to break them, the Post argued.
Noting the “anti-abortion” Center for Medical Progress that issued the videos, the board condemned the Planned Parenthood executives discussing “the sale of tissue and whole organs from abortions.”
They called out Mary Gatter, Planned Parenthood’s Medical Directors Council president, who talked about altering and “even delaying abortions” on camera to “acquire ‘good’ tissue.” Gatter, the Post argued, “sure seems to be putting that goal above the interests of Planned Parenthood’s clients.”
In reaction to last week’s video revealing that a clinic harvested baby parts without “mothers’ informed consent” (yes, the Post said mothers), the board demanded, “What about the right of women to make the choices they think best?” [emphasis added].
(Oops, you mean Planned Parenthood isn’t really pro-choice? But then, from the very beginning, they never considered the baby’s choice!)
“Huh,” the board retorted. “Planned Parenthood’s defenders are generally the same folks who require clear consent for a kiss in a college dorm room.”
And Planned Parenthood’s defenses so far, the board added, “have not impressed.”
In other words, it’s time for even the pro-choice movement to abandon Planned Parenthood.
“Perhaps it’s time for the premiere provider of abortion services to consent to giving the public a much better look at its operations,” the board concluded.
Now they just need to pass along that sentiment to the broadcast networks.
