The recent release of a video that seemingly shows a Planned Parenthood executive talking about preserving fetal tissue for scientific research and their potential selling prices has given Republican presidential candidates quite the talking point. Candidates including Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal have denounced the video in a renewed call for pro-life rights.
"There is no place for taxpayer funding of organizations that profit from taking away innocent life, much less profiting off the bodies of the lives they have stolen," Cruz said in a statement. "It should renew efforts to fully defund Planned Parenthood to ensure that its morally bankrupt business receives not one penny of taxpayer money." Walker called the video, which depicts a Planned Parenthood executive eating a salad with a glass of wine while talking about fetal body parts, "absolutely horrifying and disgusting."
Jindal took his denouncement one step further with a call for action. The governor asked the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the FBI to help launch an investigation into Planned Parenthood and its discussion of "the systemic harvesting and traffic of human body parts."
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Planned Parenthood released a statement dismissing the video, which it says is "heavily edited" and denied the implication that the organization was selling fetal body parts. "GOP politicians remain in a race to prove who can be the worst on women’s health," Planned Parenthood said, "and this story is no exception."
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