House Votes to Defund Planned Parenthood

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GOP Presidential Candidate Carly Fiorina had much to say about Planned Parenthood at the September 16 Republican Primary Presidential Debate on CNN.

“Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says, ‘We have to keep it alive to harvest its brain,’” Fiorina said concerning recent graphic videos that show the reality of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood. She dared President Obama and Hillary Clinton to watch the videos, though Clinton later said she still stands by the pro-choice group.

Fiorina’s words did not go unnoticed. On September 18, the House of Representatives voted to defund Planned Parenthood.

Also known as H.R. 3134, the “Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015” passed with a final vote of 241-187. It aims to invest the money typically used to fund Planned Parenthood into other general and women’s health organizations. According to Life Site News, however, if Planned Parenthood ceases abortions and focuses only on women’s health, the money will be restored to them.

Life Site adds that nearly 14,000 health facilities will benefit from the redirected funding if H.R. 3134 passes. None of these facilities perform abortions.

The chances of H.R. 3134 passing the Senate are slim, considering that both the potential defunding of Planned Parenthood and Fiorina’s comments at the Republican debate have met with criticism from pro-choicers.

Many Democratic and pro-choice enthusiasts say the gruesome scene Fiorina described at the debate does not actually exist. They say that in the nearly 12 hours of total footage compiled by the Center for Medical Progress against Planned Parenthood, Fiorina’s description cannot be found.

Planned Parenthood also spoke out following Fiorina’s claim, calling it “a lie” and saying that what Fiorina described has “nothing to do with Planned Parenthood.”

Earlier this summer, the organization spoke against the Center for Medical Progress’s initial statements and videos against them in a letter to Congress. Planned Parenthood said the videos were edited to seem real, but were actually deceitful. The organization added that the Center for Medical Progress has claimed falsities and tried to convince the public of their venacity for several years now.

Despite the heavy criticism, Fiorina ­­continues to support and defend her claim. She said the graphic images she described do exist and are every bit as horrifying as she described them.

Included in one of the videos released by the Center for Medical Progress is an interview with Holly O’Donnell, whom the video describes as an ex-procurement technician at StemExpress, LLC. According to its website, StemExpress, which partnered with Planned Parenthood prior to backlash, furthers medical research by “supplying human specimens to biomedical researchers around the world.” O’Donnell’s testimony relates to Fiorina’s description.

O’Donnell said she witnessed a male fetus that was the “closest thing to a baby I’ve ever seen…and its heart is beating…it had a face,” she said.

“Okay, well, this is a really good fetus,” O’Donnell said her boss told her. “It looks like we can procure a lot from it. We’re going to procure a brain.”

O’Donnell said she looked at the baby, its heart was beating, and she felt “flabbergasted.” She explained that her boss began cutting upward on the boy’s face to his mouth before requesting O’Donnell finish the job.

“I didn’t want to do this,” O’Donnell said. “She gave me the scissors and told me that I have to cut down the middle of the face, and I can’t even describe what that feels like.”

O’Donnell added that after the extraction of the brain, her boss told her to clean up.

“I’m just sitting there like, ‘What did I just do?’ and that was the moment I knew I couldn’t work for the company anymore,” O’Donnell said.

H.R. 3134’s Senate voting date is not yet available; an investigation into the truthfulness of Fiorina’s comments is underway.