The mainstream media doesn’t understand pro-life Americans. They think you’re either stupid, uninformed, or some bizarre religious troglodyte opposing progress to satiate a deep lust for misogyny. Nowhere was this more evident than in Thursday morning’s bizarre tag team effort between the hosts on MSNBC Live with Velshi and Ruhle:
RUHLE: Teenagers in Europe and the United States, data will tell you, have the same sexual habits. Now, the care they're given, what they're provided in Europe is significantly more than we have here. And teen pregnancies are three times the amount here than they are in Europe. So it is about education and prevention, simply isn't, well, Planned Parenthood is where you head over for an abortion.
First, as The Week's socially conservative correspondent Matthew Walther asks, is there some ethereal “golden mean of fornication that is part of the fabric of reality itself?” Are the “sexual habits” of the American populous that Ruhle cites some immutable phenomenon predestined to a particular incidence? Or do people have agency? No matter- Ruhle points to the godless socialism of Europe as the panacea.
Second, Planned Parenthood is in fact where one “head[s] over for an abortion.” It’s the nation’s largest abortion provider, and it provides about one-third of U.S. abortions. Planned Parenthood’s abortion to adoption referral ratio is 113:1. The organization has been a tried and true opponent of banning partial-birth abortions, a procedure described below by NRLC:
“[A] procedure in which the abortionist pulls a living baby feet-first out of the womb and into the birth canal, except for the head, which the abortionist purposely keeps lodged just inside the cervix. The abortionist punctures the base of the baby’s skull with a surgical instrument, such as a long surgical scissors or a pointed hollow metal tube called a trocar. He then inserts a catheter into the wound, and removes the baby's brain with a powerful suction machine. This causes the skull to collapse, after which the abortionist completes the delivery of the now-dead baby.”
Of course pro-life Americans would be livid that their hard-earned tax dollars are going to support such an organization. And when Ali Velshi proceeds to break down for the audience what exactly Planned Parenthood does besides abortion, he misses the point- these services have been reliably provided by community health centers, and it doesn’t matter to pro-lifers what else Planned Parenthood does. To us, this is how that logic sounds. Trump has already challenged Planned Parenthood- give up the abortions, and we’ll significantly increase your funding. The response was, predictably, no.
Read the full June 22nd transcript below:
11:30 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Much like in the outline we’ve seen so far, to simply defund Planned Parenthood, there's a lack of understanding with what Planned Parenthood does and who it takes care of. People are quick to mark it off and say that's about abortions. It's a lot more than that. Women's health, that's their primary caregiver. When, Ali Velshi, when you think of your primary caregiver, you’re thinking of your general practitioner.
ALI VELSHI: Correct.
RUHLE: For women out there, it's their gynecologist, so to lose Planned Parenthood funding completely affects millions of Americans, it is not a conversation about pro-choice versus pro-life.
11:57 AM ET
RUHLE: They have no chance of getting a Democrat if they go the way of Rand Paul.
VELSHI: But to your point about Planned Parenthood, if you want them, the Collins’, Murkowski’s, women look at Planned Parenthood differently. We have framed this whole thing as Planned Parenthood being an abortion factory. But in fact, for many women, it is primary health care. You made this point for --
RUHLE: For millions of women, it is their primary health care. We like -- people like to give the quick and dirty, Planned Parenthood stands for abortion, it doesn't. It stands for women's basic health. When women think of basic health, that's the doctor they consider. My husband can tell you everything he knows about his cholesterol, about his heart rate, he knows all those things. When he gets the flu, he has a doctor to call. Women, it is their OBGYN. And to say we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, that's millions of Americans.
VELSHI: But do you know who made that point in the Republican primary?
MICHAEL SPARER: Donald Trump.
VELSHI: Donald Trump made that point. He said, I don't like the abortion part, but Planned Parenthood serves a lot of women and their basic health needs. He actually said that. He seems to --
SPARER: Of course Donald Trump also said I'm going to have a program that provides health insurance to every American.
RUHLE: But think about this --
VELSHI: No one is going to die on my watch.
RUHLE: Teenagers in Europe and the United States, data will tell you, have the same sexual habits. Now, the care they're given, what they're provided in Europe is significantly more than we have here. And teen pregnancies are three times the amount here than they are in Europe. So it is about education and prevention, simply isn't, well, Planned Parenthood is where you head over for an abortion. As soon as we get our head around what it actually is --
VELSHI: While Stephanie is talking, let’s zoom in on this. This is what Planned Parenthood does. It does pregnancy testing, pelvic exams, breast center-- breast cancer screenings, birth control, emergency contraception, I want to skip over the abortion just for a second so that you can concentrate on the other things. Educational programs and men's health services, abortion is one of the things Planned Parenthood does.
RUHLE: You want to wipe out cervical cancer? The best chance you have is if women can consistently get health care. And to simply say we’re going to get rid of it is extraordinary.
