Longtime journalist and commentator Brit Hume has gone to social media to scorch National Public Radio for falsely reporting that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms.
He cited a report from the Media Research Center's NewsBusters that said, "NPR spreads old lie that Planned Parenthood offers mammograms."
"On Friday's 'All Things Considered,' NPR health policy correspondent Alison Kodjak was the offender as she reported on President Trump's reversal of Barack Obama's attempt to preserve Planned Parenthood subsidies in [GOP] states that moved to defund them," the report said.
Kodjak was discussing legislation to stop funding Planned Parenthood and to give the money to other clinics that provide health services for women.
"Well, it depends a little bit on the make-up of the states, obviously. It's states that are run by Republican legislatures with Republican governors who are likely to support this kind of legislation," she said. "States with rural – a lot of rural areas are likely to see a lot of impact because these clinics aren't everywhere. So if Planned Parenthood is the closest clinic where you can get family planning services – and when I say that, I'm talking about pap smears, mammograms, birth control and in some cases obviously abortions – you might have to travel very far to get those services. You might not get them at all."
The report failed to mention the pro-life viewpoint or the fact that Planned Parenthood was caught in an undercover video sting revealing its baby-body-parts business.
According to Twitchy, Hume wrote, "I seems a little late in the game to be getting this well-established falsehood wrong."
It seems a little late in the game to be getting this well-established falsehood wrong. https://t.co/Q0SiesDVsf
— Brit Hume (@brithume) April 17, 2017
Twitchy commented: "Just a little … awful."
Former President Obama claimed a number of times that Planned Parenthood's abortionists did mammograms, but it wasn't true then either. In fact, at one point experts pointed out that mammogram machines require federal licenses, and Planned Parenthood doesn't have them.
The same is true of other health care services for women.
For example, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards is on record stating her business is essential to American women because of its prenatal care. But Planned Parenthood largely doesn't offer it.
The nonprofit Live Action, in a video investigation, found 92 out of 97 Planned Parenthood centers contacted admitted they would refuse to provide any prenatal care.
Of the other five, one said it was not accepting new patients and another said it could provide vitamins.
"No, see, we don't see pregnant women as a way of giving prenatal care, we see pregnant women, um, you know, if they are considering other options," said a Planned Parenthood staffer in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
"No, we don't do prenatal services. I mean, it's called Planned Parenthood, I know it's kind of deceiving," said a Merrillville, Indiana, spokeswoman.
Another office stated plainly: "We don't offer prenatal care at Planned Parenthood."
"Planned Parenthood says it's a champion of women’s health care, yet prenatal care, which is an essential service for expectant mothers, is virtually nonexistent," said Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action. "Our investigators who wanted to keep their babies were turned away by 92 out of 97 Planned Parenthood centers. It's clear that despite its claims, abortion is the priority and the only option for pregnant women that visit Planned Parenthood."
Live Action said it is investing $500,000 in a digital ad campaign to push the video series out to millions of Americans. Future videos will further expose Planned Parenthood’s lack of health care services and include the testimonies of former Planned Parenthood managers.
President Trump already has ordered that U.S. tax money no longer will go to organizations that fund abortion internationally.
The video:
Live Action said "The Prenatal Care Deception" leads off the "Abortion Corporation" series of investigative videos.
The video noted Planned Parenthood claims only 3 percent of its services are abortions.
Rose said the abortion company performs less than 2 percent of all women's cancer screenings in the nation, yet commits nearly one-third of all abortions – 887 a day and more than 320,000 last year.
"I anticipate Planned Parenthood will respond as it usually does by denying the overwhelming findings of this investigation," said Rose. "That's why I encourage media outlets to contact any of the 97 centers that Live Action did – or any others – and ask them if they offer prenatal care, how long they’ve been doing so, and then ask for proof. The media will find results similar to ours: Planned Parenthood’s prenatal care claim is bogus."
The Republican-led Congress has proposed stopping funding for Planned Parenthood.
President Trump also wants the public subsidies for NPR and the other public media outlets cut off.
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