OPINION:
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is immune to the abortion controversy stoked by hidden-camera video of Planned Parenthood officials trading in body parts of unborn children, said a top Democratic political strategist.
“I don’t think this is going to change anyone’s vote for or against her,” Joe Trippi, a veteran of Democratic campaigns from Walter Mondale to Howard Dean, told The Washington Times.
“There is no doubt this will be an issue. Abortion almost always is an issue in the general election to some extent,” he said. “I don’t see [the videos], Planned Parenthood, or the issue of abortion having a decisive impact on the race. Most Americans have decided where they are and Hillary Clinton’s pro-choice position is well known.
“People will vote for or against her. I don’t think this is going to change anyone’s vote for or against her,” Mr. Trippi said.
Mrs. Clinton, the party’s all-but-inevitable presidential nominee, has defended Planned Parenthood in the wake of a series of three videos, which were shot by undercover anti-abortion activists and show the organization’s executives describing methods for harvesting baby parts for sale for science and haggling over prices for fetal organs.
The group behind for the videos, Center for Medical Progress, has promised to release more footage in the weeks and months ahead.
The U.S. Senate is set to vote Monday on stopping the $500 million in taxpayer funding that goes to Planned Parenthood each year, though the money is already barred from supporting abortion services.
Mrs. Clinton has said the funding should continue because of the work that the organization does providing other health care services to women.
Last week, Mrs. Clinton called the videos “disturbing” while still defending Planned Parenthood.
“This raises not questions about Planned Parenthood so much as it raises questions about the whole process; that is, not just involving Planned Parenthood, but many institutions in our country,” Mrs. Clinton told the New Hampshire Union Leader. “And if there’s going to be any kind of congressional inquiry, it should look at everything and not just one [organization].”
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