Continuing the effort on the now-cancelled MSNBC’s Now to defend Planned Parenthood from its video scandal, National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill joined host Alex Wagner on Thursday to gush over how the “beloved” provider of abortions and alleged seller of body parts from aborted babies “has nothing to apologize for” and mocked female GOP senators who want to defund the taxpayer-funded group.
Gleefully surmising that Republican women in Congress who are leading the funding effort “are not going to hold their seats much longer, quite frankly,” O’Neill charged that “[t]he Republican leadership has an unfortunate history of chewing up women and spitting them out” in that “[t]hey use them and as long as they’re useful, they use them sort of as cover for their losing the women's vote.”
Wagner then asked O’Neill about Hillary Clinton’s comments thus far on the scandal and defunding efforts and whether or not the fact that Clinton called the videos from the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) “disturbing” shows that “she is vulnerable on this issue.”
Immediately shrugging off that possibility, O’Neill gushed that she doesn’t believe that “any politician is vulnerable who supports Planned Parenthood because Planned Parenthood is beloved and trusted” with “2.7 million women and men and young people get[ting] their medical services from anti-woman agenda.”
O’Neill quickly added a caveat in emphasizing that she “say[s] that with sorrow” since “it is not good for women's rights advocates if only one party is seen as being for women and the other party is seen as being impeccably opposed to women.”
Continuing on her pro-Planned Parenthood soapbox, O’Neill ruled that mothers that are Democrats, independents, and Republicans all “loved Planned Parenthood....because high schoolers and college students, their daughters get excellent service” and “honest services and they get services they can trust.”
With dear Hillary seeming to suggest that the videos were “disturbing,” O’Neill shot back that if the Democratic presidential candidate is insinuating “that somehow, Planned Parenthood has done anything wrong, I would take issue and disagree extremely strongly with her” because “Planned Parenthood has nothing to apologize for, nothing.”
In her final comments, the pro-abortion feminist whined about having to see pictures of an aborted baby when she came up the escalators at a Washington D.C. metro station on Tuesday:
You know, I happen to walk out of the Capitol South metro station in downtown Washington on Tuesday morning and what it was that I saw when I came up the escalators? Is this huge poster of bloody fetuses. That’s disgusting. That’s disturbing. That is not produced by Planned Parenthood.
Denouncing “this shadowy group” in CMP who made the poster and videos, O’Neill reaffirmed her belief that the catalyst for hundreds of thousands of abortions a year “has nothing to be ashamed of” and inferred “this CMP has something to fear in terms criminal investigations in California and I hope that goes forward.”
In one of her previous appearances on MSNBC, O’Neill joined host Chris Hayes on April16's All In and forecasted that a Hillary presidency would bring a “sea change to our politics” and fretted about the former First Lady suffering more “silly” attacks.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Now with Alex Wagner on July 30 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Now with Alex Wagner
July 30, 2015
4:53 p.m. Eastern
ALEX WAGNER: Abortion is at the center of a heated debate, especially in the Senate where three Republican women appear to be leading the charge on this. Joni Ernst, Deb Fischer, and Dianne Black. Yesterday, Senator Mitch McConnell framed it as protecting women's health and protecting a group mired in scandal. This is a decidedly different strategy – at least in terms of spokespeople on the part of Republicans. Do you think it’ll be more effective?
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN PRESIDENT TERRY O’NEILL: Those women are not going to hold their seats much longer, quite frankly. No, I don't think it’s effective and here is why. The Republican leadership has an unfortunate history of chewing up women and spitting them out. They use them and as long as they’re useful, they use them sort of as cover for their losing the women's vote and now, they will be losing the millennial vote, both men as well as women. So, it is a real problem.
WAGNER: Terry, Hillary Clinton offered some defense of Planned Parenthood, but she called the videos disturbing and we know that Hillary Clinton has a longed history with Planned Parenthood. I wonder how you read her comments and whether it feels like she is vulnerable on this issue.
O’NEILL: You know, I don't think any politician is vulnerable who supports Planned Parenthood because Planned Parenthood is beloved and trusted. 2.7 million women and men and young people get their medical services from anti-woman agenda. I say that with sorrow, right? Because it is not good for women's rights advocates if only one party is seen as being for women and the other party is seen as being impeccably opposed to women, but the Republican Party once more is going down the road of Planned Parenthood every year and by one estimate, one in every five women has utilized Planned Parenthood’s services at some point. Moms loved Planned Parenthood – independent moms, Republican moms, and Democratic moms because high schoolers and college students, their daughters get excellent service. They get honest services and they get services they can trust. So – so, to the degree that Hillary Clinton is saying that somehow, Planned Parenthood has done anything wrong, I would take issue and disagree extremely strongly with her. Planned Parenthood has nothing to apologize for, nothing. I have only admiration for her.
(....)
O’NEILL: You know, I happen to walk out of the Capitol South metro station in downtown Washington on Tuesday morning and what it was that I saw when I came up the escalators? Is this huge poster of bloody fetuses. That’s disgusting. That’s disturbing. That is not produced by Planned Parenthood. It is by this shadowy group, the CMP, whoever they are, and turn out to be deeply connected to an organization called Operation Rescue, which is well known as being on the violent fringe of anti-abortion activism. So, no. Planned Parenthood has nothing to be ashamed of. I think that this CMP has something to fear in terms criminal investigations in California and I hope that goes forward.
