House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said that Republican were attempting to block federal funding of Planned Parenthood because they don’t respect women and don’t believe in family planning.
“Republicans are up to some more of their — I don’t know how even to describe it — insults, lack of respect for women,” Mrs. Pelosi said at her weekly press conference at the Capitol.
She said that Republicans have always been out to get Planned Parenthood.
“I can attest personally to the fact that for decades that I’ve been here they have been out to get Planned Parenthood because they don’t believe in family planning,” said the California Democrat.
“That is clear in their votes. They don’t believe in family planning,” she continued. “It’s hard for people to understand that but is what we are dealing with here.”
House Republican leaders have scheduled votes Friday on two antiabortion bills. One would put a one-year moratorium on federal funding for Planned Parenthood while Congress investigates allegations that the group has profited from harvesting fetal organs and selling them to researchers.
The other would add criminal penalties to laws that require abortion doctors to perform lifesaving measures for babies that survive abortion procedures.
Republican lawmakers have pushed to eliminate the $500 million in federal funding for Planned Parenthood in the wake of undercover video shot by pro-life activists that critics say show the organizations executives haggling over the price of fetal organs.
Planned Parenthood insists the video were edited to give a misleading impression.
The federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which is not supposed to support abortion services, has also become a sticking point in passing spending bills needed to avoid a government shutdown after a Sept. 30 deadline.
Mrs. Pelosi said that the debate over Planned Parenthood was not about abortion practices.
“This isn’t about terminating a pregnancy. Everybody grants everyone their position on that subject. But most people believe that family planning, most Catholics overwhelmingly believe that family planning is an appropriate practice,” said Mrs. Pelosi, who is Catholic.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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