CNN's Alisyn Camerota regurgitated common liberal talking points in defense of federal funding for Planned Parenthood on Thursday's New Day as she interviewed Senator Joni Ernst. Camerota noted that Senator Ernst "sponsored a bill to defund them," and spotlighted that "the argument against that is that Planned Parenthood provides a whole host of services beyond abortion services. They provide birth control; they provide cancer screenings that...tens of thousands of women and men rely upon." [video below]
When the Iowa Republican pointed out that "Planned Parenthood only does about 10 percent of those screenings overall in this nation," the anchor countered that "what women – particularly, low-income women – need is access, and the clinics provide access. So every time you close a clinic, it makes women have to go further to find that hospital, or further to get that birth control; and that without the clinics being open, that there will be exactly what you don't want – which is more unwanted pregnancies."
Camerota never directly mentioned the undercover videos from the Center for Medical Progress that sparked the controversy swirling around the abortion organization. Instead, she merely that Planned Parenthood was "so much in the news in this – past couple of weeks." Besides her "10 percent of those screenings" line, Senator Ernst underlined in her initial answer that "we are not decreasing the dollars that are available for those very important screenings and other services offered to women and to men, as you mentioned. That money can be applied for by other facilities, such as hospitals and community health centers. So, those services are still available."
The first-term senator then pointed out that "the videos that have been released are extremely disturbing. We want Americans to speak out against this." The CNN journalist followed up with her claim about "more unwanted pregnancies." Ernst replied by repeating her main point: "No, I reject that, because there are many, many more thousands of community health care centers, hospitals – easy access to those types of activities."
On Tuesday, Camerota zeroed in on one of the past undercover videos, where "these representatives from Planned Parenthood negotiating" over prices for organs from aborted babies, and asked Planned Parenthood executive vice president Dawn Laguens, "Why not set a set price? Wouldn't that solve the problem? Because, in this video, it says – well, sometimes, it's between $30 to $100 – depending upon storage, and depending upon handling. And so, it makes it seem as though there's room for haggling or negotiation. Why not say, it's going to be $100 across the board, and there's no if's, and's, or buts?"
The transcript of the relevant portion of the Senator Joni Ernst interview from Thursday's New Day on CNN:
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Senator, we – we also want to ask you about Planned Parenthood – so much in the news in this – past couple of weeks. You have sponsored a bill to defund them. And, of course, the argument against that is that Planned Parenthood provides a whole host of services beyond abortion services. They provide birth control; they provide cancer screenings that – you know, tens of thousands of women and men rely upon. So what's your answer to that?
SEN. JONI ERNST, (R), IOWA: Well, my answer to that is that – yes, we are planning on defunding Planned Parenthood through this legislation, but we are not decreasing the dollars that are available for those very important screenings and other services offered to women and to men, as you mentioned. That money can be applied for by other – other facilities, such as hospitals and community health centers. So, those services are still available. And if you look at the wide range of services that are available, Planned Parenthood only does about 10 percent of those screenings overall in this nation – very, very small participant in those types of activities. We want to make sure that women still have access to health care, and that can be done through many other means. We are not planning on lowering the number of dollars. Those dollars are still going to be there – just not available for Planned Parenthood.
The videos that have been released are extremely disturbing. We want Americans to speak out against this.
CAMEROTA: What Planned Parenthood would say is that what women – particularly, low-income women – need is access, and the clinics provide access. So every time you close a clinic, it makes women have to go further to find that hospital, or further to get that birth control; and that without the clinics being open, that there will be exactly what you don't want – which is more unwanted pregnancies.
ERNST: No, I reject that, because there are many, many more thousands of community health care centers, hospitals – easy access to those types of activities. Planned Parenthood, I believe, has, maybe, around 800 clinics nationwide. There is still easy available access – even in the rural areas. I come from a very rural area. We have many community health care centers, as well as county hospitals, and so forth – where we can receive those services.
