RNC Starts With Attack On Planned Parenthood, Only Goes Downhill From There
For Immediate Release: July 22, 2016
Cleveland, OH — On Monday, the Republican Party released its official platform, along with the news that the party had, for the first time in history, attacked directly by name Planned Parenthood and the basic care its health centers provide.
Republicans in more than a dozen states have investigated Planned Parenthood since last year, when an anti-abortion group released undercover videos purporting to show the family planning provider selling fetal tissue. So far, 13 states that opened probes into Planned Parenthood have cleared the organization of wrongdoing, and eight more states declined to investigate, citing a lack of evidence. A grand jury in Texas that investigated the videos cleared Planned Parenthood and indicted the anti-abortion activist behind the videos.
Since then, we’ve watched some of the most extreme anti-abortion lawmakers in America take the stage at the RNC to support the party’s nominee, Donald Trump — the man who has said women should be punished for seeking health care and has chosen a running mate who has spent his career attacking Planned Parenthood and women’s access to health care.
As Dawn Laguens, head of Planned Parenthood Votes, said earlier this week:
“Trump is doing exactly what he said he would do: trying to unite the party by making women and their access to health care a target.”