Updated: PP Responds: RNC Chair Priebus Suggests Democrats Support Infanticide

[DonViejo]

Last edited Thu Apr 4, 2013, 10:50 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: TPM

In an article published Wednesday on the conservative website RedState, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus blasted Democrats for supporting Planned Parenthood, while floating the damning suggestion that the likes of President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) support infanticide.

"The President, the Senate Majority Leader, the House Democratic Leader, and the Chair of the Democratic National Committee (in whose home state this hearing occurred) made funding Planned Parenthood an issue in the 2012 campaign," Priebus wrote. "They should now all be held to account for that outspoken support. If the media won’t, then voters must ask the pressing questions: Do these Democrats also believe a newborn has no rights? Do they also endorse infanticide?"

Priebus appeared to predicate much of his piece on recent testimony from a Planned Parenthood lobbyist before the Florida legislature. The lobbyist was posed a number of hypotheticals on what the women's healthcare organization would do if a baby survived a botched abortion.

"Not once in her testimony did the Planned Parenthood representative say the newborn baby has a right to life. Not once did she say anyone has a duty to care for the child," Priebus wrote. "Whether the living, breathing child survives is up to the adults in the room because, as we now know, Planned Parenthood doesn’t believe the baby has rights."

Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rnc-chair-priebus-suggests-democrats-support-infanticide

---

Update

Planned Parenthood Responds To ‘Infanticide’ Charge From Priebus

TOM KLUDT 7:51 AM EDT, THURSDAY APRIL 4, 2013

After Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus penned a scathing op-ed piece Wednesday suggesting that Planned Parenthood — and Democrats — support infanticide, the reproductive health organization issued a clarifying response.

In the piece, published by the conservative website RedState, Priebus highlighted recent testimony from Alisa LaPolt Snow, a Planned Parenthood lobbyist, before the Florida legislature. During the testimony, Republican legislators posed a number of hypotheticals to Snow on how Planned Parenthood would handle a botched abortion. “What happens in a situation where a baby is alive, breathing on a table, moving? What do your physicians do at that point?” asked one GOP lawmaker.

Snow's answers left a number of Republicans, including Priebus, up in arms. The chairman pointed to her testimony as evidence that Planned Parenthood and pro-choice Democrats must endorse infanticide. But in a statement provided to TPM on Wednesday, Planned Parenthood said that those Republican legislators "demanded speculation about a vague set of extremely unlikely and highly unusual medical circumstances."

Last week, a panel of Florida state legislators demanded speculation about a vague set of extremely unlikely and highly unusual medical circumstances. Medical guidelines and ethics already compel physicians facing life-threatening circumstances to respond, and Planned Parenthood physicians provide high-quality medical care and adhere to the most rigorous professional standards, including providing emergency care. In the extremely unlikely event that the scenario presented by the panel of legislators should happen, of course Planned Parenthood would provide appropriate care to both the woman and the infant.

###

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/planned-parenthood-responds-to-infanticide-charge-from-priebus?ref=fpa

[JoePhilly]

1. If born to poor parents, the GOP would just as soon starve that newborn.

[Scairp]

25. Or...

...black, Hispanic (any race but white, actually), immigrant of any country, or muslim.

[matt819]

2. Sheesh

How can you have a rational discussion of the issues with people like this? Is it any wonder we are as polarized as we are. As long as this nonsense is tolerated, we are not going to be able to move forward and address real issues.

[Blue Owl]

3. Prince Dumbass can only hope you look away from his little GOP dungheap

Hey Reince, abortion rates have lowered when Democrats are in office, and increased when Republicans are in office.

Now please explain again which party supports infanticide.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. And that crap is why all these GOP fools are trying to defund PP. Lies and

more lies about everything and their lap dogs lick it up.

[Scuba]

5. No, Mr. Penis, we don't. I'd support flushing your lame ass down the toilet though.

You really, really need a swirly.

[Sunlei]

6. How come Reince Priebus only has 2 kids??? no sex?, infertal? or infanticide??

[CBHagman]

7. Seeing as the GOP is opposed to access to health care for all...

...and wants to cut food stamps, education, and Medicaid, it takes a lot of cheek for Priebus to position his party as an advocate for children.

[atreides1]

16. That's the elephant in the room!

The GOP wants to cut all social programs and those that support them are little better then the Germans who looked the other way when their neighbors disappeared.

And when the poor, elderly, and people of color begin to suffer and die, the Republicans will make the same claims..."we didn't know"!

[CBHagman]

21. No, that's not the analogy.

The GOP mantra is that the free market is the answer to any economic woes, and they also like to claim that the social safety net encourages dependency. It's closer to the mindset of 19th century Britons regarding the Great Famine in Ireland.

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml[/url]

Recent historians of the famine, while not neglecting the baleful role of the doctrine of laissez-faire, have been inclined to stress the potent parts played by two other ideologies of the time: those of 'providentialism' and 'moralism'. There was a very widespread belief among members of the British upper and middle classes that the famine was a divine judgment-an act of Providence-against the kind of Irish agrarian regime that was believed to have given rise to the famine. The Irish system of agriculture was perceived in Britain to be riddled with inefficiency and abuse. According to British policy-makers at the time, the workings of divine Providence were disclosed in the unfettered operations of the market economy, and therefore it was positively evil to interfere with its proper functioning.

A leading exponent of this providentialist perspective was Sir Charles Trevelyan, the British civil servant chiefly responsible for administering Irish relief policy throughout the famine years. In his book The Irish Crisis, published in 1848, Trevelyan described the famine as 'a direct stroke of an all-wise and all-merciful Providence', one which laid bare 'the deep and inveterate root of social evil'. The famine, he declared, was 'the sharp but effectual remedy by which the cure is likely to be effected... God grant that the generation to which this great opportunity has been offered may rightly perform its part...' This mentality of Trevelyan's was influential in persuading the government to do nothing to restrain mass evictions - and this had the obvious effect of radically restructuring Irish rural society along the lines of the capitalistic model ardently preferred by British policy-makers.

Finally, we come to 'moralism'-the notion that the fundamental defects from which the Irish suffered were moral rather than financial. Educated Britons of this era saw serious defects in the Irish 'national character'-disorder or violence, filth, laziness, and worst of all, a lack of self-reliance. This amounted to a kind of racial or cultural stereotyping. The Irish had to be taught to stand on their own feet and to unlearn their dependence on government.

Sound familiar?

[Boomerproud]

30. Yes, all too familiar.

[DFW]

8. The GOP obviously thinks it's better for them to grow old enough to be target practice first. N/T

[SoapBox]

9. WTF???????

...sicko bastard.

[Gregorian]

10. Even if it were true, it's hypcritical that anone be pro-life AND pro-war.

They need to seek emotional help. Messed up people messing up our country.

[CBHagman]

39. Unfortunately, it's a common enough position.

I've been ever haunted by the following quote from Barbara Ehrenreich's The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed: "They espoused clean living and admired war. They preached hard work and paid for it with nickels and dimes."

There's a harshness to passes for conservatism these days, a weirdly punitive and sentimental at the same time, making noises about protecting the babies while promoting policies that will in fact harm someone's baby, no question about it. It's not a new phenomenon, but thanks to right-wing media empires, lobbying, and of course the Internets, it's on constant display.

[Gregorian]

40. Quite simply- injured children. Messed up people raised by messed up parents.

I honestly believe, after studying this for quite some time, that there is little more to it than people acting on, and passing on, their emotional traumas to others.

Responsible people learn to control their emotions. It's hard to put into words without making big mistakes. But I see the Hitlers and Bushes passing on their pain to the world, whereas they could work out their issues and save the world from the suffering they cause.

Once again, I'm channeling Alice Miller.

[Plucketeer]

11. Rancid Priebus

survivor of a botched infanticide!

[noiretextatique]

12. get this you dumbass rw fucks: planned parenthood provides health services

including life-saving exams and pap smears. in some places, they also provide primary care services, including referrals for life-saving mammograms. clearly you don't give a shit about women's lives

[chuckstevens]

13. Don't Abort That Child: Every Life is Scared!

Well, it is not MY fault she got pregnant and why should I have to support that kids with tax dollars that fund government aid? It is a matter of personal responsibility, after all.

I'm sorry Rancid, but which party supports infanticide? FUCK YOU and your SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS!

[otohara]

14. Republicans Support Murder by Guns

are we even yet?

[mercymechap]

15. I wish we had a "thumbs up" or "thanks" button so that

I could thank you for your post. I wonder if a Republican was asked to sign a document claiming that they would pay for the future medical expenses of a fetus being aborted due to excessive deformities that will render them to a life of continuous medical treatment and unable to function a normal life, if they would say "yes"! I seriously doubt it. Their whole stance is once you're born, you are on your own. Hypocrites!

[otohara]

18. Thanks

i too tire of their hypocrisy on abortion vs the living.

Last year my neighbor's son was picked up by her ex-husband. He took the boy to the mountains and pulled a murder/suicide

Women who choose to have abortions vs women who lose their walking talking child to a gun live very different lives post abortion/loss.

[Beaverhausen]

17. Like the GOP gives one shit about a baby once it's born. Fuck him

he is an asshole

[classof56]

19. +1 for the truth.

[wordpix]

20. Rancid Penis is showing his true colors, pandering to the stooopids

[47of74]

22. Fuck you Reince Priebus

[DBoon]

23. Next

Reince Priebus accuses Democrats of supporting necrophilia, for supporting continued funding for veterans cemeteries

[Pterodactyl]

24. That is absolutely ridiculous. If a baby is born, its life should be protected.

I have no doubt that if anyone at Planned Parenthood was in the situation with a born-alive child, he or she would protect that child.

[Warpy]

26. After viability, the docs do all they can to save a viable fetus

even if the life or health of the woman is being threatened. At that point, it becomes a premature birth.

The tragic cases arise when the woman is too fragile to withstand either labor or a c-section. Then the choices are far starker, especially with ignorant men like Priebus thinking they know fuck all about medicine.

[Pterodactyl]

32. And that's why the provider should be a medical doctor and have admitting priveleges at a hospital.

To keep all the patients safe.

[SunSeeker]

34. Bullshit. That will not keep patients safe.

As I am sure you are aware, the Alabama Legislature late Tuesday adopted stringent new regulations for abortion clinics that the anti-choice nuts called a "step to protect women" but that are in fact medically unnecessary and a disguised effort to force the closing of the state's five abortion clinics.The bill, like measures passed last year in Mississippi and Tennessee and last month in North Dakota, would require that doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. Several of Alabama's clinics rely on doctors who fly in from out of state, and given the hostile political climate it appears unlikely that nearby hospitals would grant such privileges.

A similar admissions requirement passed last year in Mississippi would shut down that state's only abortion clinic, but enforcement is stayed while a federal court decides a challenge to the law as an unjustified infringement on access to abortion.

I can't believe a DUer supports such transparent attempts to shut down abortion clinics. Lack of access to abortion will kill women, not keep them "safe."

[Pterodactyl]

37. It's between a woman and her doctor. Which requires, you know, a doctor.

[SunSeeker]

38. I was talking about that admitting privileges requirement that YOU brought up.

So, how can you possibly justify such a requirement in light of the transparent way it is being used to deny women the right to chose?

[CTyankee]

27. Way to go, Rancid! Join up with the "wetbacks" guy and go for it! You'll make SO

friends among women and minorities! I'm sure that they'll want to become Republicans and listen to more that you have to say!

I'm just waiting for more pearls to fall out of the mouths of RWingers...

[Arkana]

28. Yeah, cause there's no way this could backfire.

Priebus is such an asshole.

[alp227]

29. Kick for the update n/t

[Spitfire of ATJ]

31. As I've said all along,...

They tell their flock that "Demoncrats" are pro-abortion in order to sacrifice baby's blood for Satan.

[steve2470]

33. I can't wait for the backlash upon these fools

You know DAMN well if one of their female relatives were needing an abortion, they'd make sure she got one. Somehow. Somewhere. Just like the "good old days" of pre-Roe. Do they give a rats' ass about the fact that an unplanned pregnancy has enormous consequences for a woman, not always wanted or pleasant ? Fuck no. They only care about the baby but then the woman can go to hell when she needs anything post-pregnancy.

Bunch of fucking hypocrites.

[SunSeeker]

35. The GOP only care about a fetus, not babies, and certainly not poor women and their families. nt

[steve2470]

36. I agree nt

[Aristus]

41. How many babies and pregnant women did you repuke fucks murder during "Shock And Awe"?

Huh?

Then I don't fucking want to hear about infanticide!!!