Marjorie on Janet Parshall’s "In the Market"

In the Market with Janet Parshall – July 29, 2015 Interview with MJD

Harvesting Organs

Human Capital: Episode 1

J: I’m so glad Marjorie Dannenfelser is with us.  She’s President of the Susan B. Anthony List.  She is unwaveringly pro-life, and I so thank God for the Susan B. Anthony List.  It’s a national pro-life group that’s dedicated to pursuing policies and electing candidates (whatever party they belong to) to reduce, and ultimately end, abortion.  And boy, under Marjorie’s leadership, SBA has really, really, really grown.

Marjorie, you and I have been around the block a long time.  We’ve seen an awful lot, but this is just a new low [in reference to Planned Parenthood scandal], is it not?

MJD:  Well Janet, it’s a new low, but a new high in terms of opportunity in what can be had.  You got the exact clip that really mattered in my mind, and what, I believe, makes a difference in everybody’s mind. 

We often don’t get used to this.  A lot of us are still not over this.  None of us should be over this.  But most people haven’t actually seen what’s been going on in these clinics.

And this is a very different moment; we’ve had debates about Planned Parenthood and cutting off funding.  In 2011 there was a big CR debate—there was some leadership; however, now, with these videos coming out, and the message being delivered by the mouths of Planned Parenthood officials, it is positively different. 

And we’ve seen presidential candidates, and governors, the Leader of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House all standing up and saying:

No.  This is not acceptable in our nation.  

It’s time to move now, and investigate, and do something different—cutting off funding.  No penny should be going to this organization, and cutting off funding is absolutely the top priority.  However, we do have a president in the oval office who will not sign that bill, so the presidential candidates who are talking about this are making a big difference, and they are part of the politics of what can happen.

J: Exactly right.  You know Marjorie, it seems to me that it isn’t just cutting off the funding—and we should remind our friends—we’re talking multiple, multiple millions of dollars every single year.  In fact, if you want a comp. here: you give $9 dollars to Planned Parenthood for every $1 that goes into abstinence education.  And I don’t know how they’ve managed to hoodwink so many people on Capitol Hill where they can still procure these kinds of dollars.  But [sic] funding, defunding alone isn’t enough, I want some prosecution here. 

If in fact they’re trading, they have violated federal law.  So I wanna know whether or not somebody’s gonna growl and show some teeth and say: “You can’t do it.” 

Because if Planned Parenthood gets away with it you got a whole biotech industry that’s gonna be open to trading even more.

MJD: Well there are two things that should happen.  Prosecution, without question, is a priority.  They are certainly breaking the law.  But the law was crafted by Henry Waxman (the most liberal member of the House) many years ago to allow for exactly what they’re doing.  The limits that he put on it…they’re working on the outside of it. 

The problem is what they’re doing is a little bit in-the-bounds.  What we have to do is not only call them out, but then say:

“What Planned Parenthood is doing as an organization is not in synch with America: they should be completely defunded.”

And that is really where we’re moving with the presidential—what we can do.

J: Absolutely.  And I gotta tell you, Planned Parenthood knows—despite whatever rhetoric you’re hearing—they’re on the ropes folks.  Let’s go back to Marjorie Dannenfelser after this.

[break]

Clip of Second Planned Parenthood Senior Executive Haggles Over Baby Parts Prices

J: Sold to the highest bidder!  Ugh, you know those who’ve drawn a comparison between the pernicious sin of slavery and abortion, I think, just had their case shored up even more.  Selling body parts…it just stinks in the nostrils of our God.

So now you’ve got these videotapes out there.  Thank you Lord for the boldness of the Center for Medical Progress: this marvelous group that said: you know what, we’ve got the technology—we’re gonna lift the shades, open the door, let the disinfectant of sunlight come in to Planned Parenthood.  You paid for it; here’s what you’re getting.  And now, I think there’s going to be some review.

You know, Marjorie Dannenfelser is with us, and she’s been working long and hard as President of the Susan B. Anthony List.  Working for policies and candidates who can advance those policies that uphold the sanctity of human life.  And we praise God that we are seeing a sea-change in this country.  You know, state by state by state, when you start to see the laws that have passed in states—forget Washington—in states you are starting to see some real change here.  And we thank God for that.

So then, you see these videotapes.  And now it does nothing but even foster more change because people are going: Ugh. Absolutely repugnant.

So Marjorie, you had the secretary for HHS who was on the Hill, and she was getting grilled recently.  When you start calling people up from the Cabinet, and you start grilling them on their position on Planned Parenthood, that’s traction like you and I would go ten years without seeing.

So all of a sudden now they’re [Planned Parenthood] absolutely being called into account.  Now they’re going to weave and bob and hire PR firms.  And they’ve done all of that, and will do more in the future ahead.  But it seems to me that it’s pretty hard to justify what you’re doing–to say: ‘oh we’re involved with PAP smears and breast exams’ somehow just doesn’t cut it when you’re sitting there saying: sold to the highest bidder, does it?

MJD: No.  And I think what you’re describing is vital.  It’s the first step.  The Head of HHS, the head of Planned Parenthood—Cecile Richards–the medical director who was on that film being called into hearings in the House: those are all really important things, but that’s really just the first level. 

The even more important news, in my view, is that there is already a conviction in the minds and hearts of elected officials in the Senate and the House that we already know what we need to know. That we’ve known all about Planned Parenthood for a long time.  The difference is now the world is seeing it.  There is a preparedness for cutting their funding, and so there are two aspects of getting the law in line.

Yes, they must be brought to justice one day for violating the law.  But the law itself allows for this as long as you’re not selling it.  Well it wouldn’t be okay if they were selling it.  It wouldn’t be okay if they were avoiding a procedure that would manipulate the baby so that you could harvest the child in a certain way.  It would still be wrong what they are doing.  What they deserve is to be defunded. 

And I think the difference is that what we’re seeing right now is that the first aspect of justice is to say you’re breaking the law.  And let’s make sure we know how that is being done because we understand what the law is. 

The second piece of this is: are you a valid beneficiary of a very generous taxpayer funding base?

We give them, as taxpayers, 1.4 million dollars a day.  They perform a third of the abortions in the country.  The abortion can account for about $300, and then the harvesting of the parts can account for about $400.  So they get a double-whammy for every single kid. 

But no matter what, they don’t deserve our funding.  Down to the sinew they are a corrupt organization.  We have known this for a very long time.

The difference is, I talked to the Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, today on the phone.  I’m going to meet with the Speaker of the House tomorrow.  They understand it, they know it, and they are on the move.  And that is very different from any moment we’ve ever seen.

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