Larry Wilmore tries to wrap his head around anti-Planned Parenthood 'pap smear campaign'

Larry Wilmore tackles the GOP effort to defund Planned Parenthood
(Image credit: The Nightly Show)

"Somebody's lying," said Larry Wilmore on Tuesday's Nightly Show, in a segment dedicated to the effort to strip Planned Parenthood of all federal funding. The most recent Republican attempt to defund the women's health organization was spurred by videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they deal with tissue from aborted fetuses — Planned Parenthood says it makes no profit from donating the tissue for research, while the group that secretly filmed and edited the videos says the officials are admitting they do sell the tissue.

In context, Wilmore said, it seems clear that the Center for Medical Progress is the one lying, and "context really matters when it comes to Planned Parenthood videos, just like context matters for that text you sent last night." There's no context allowed on Fox News or in GOP talking points, so "that's why I'm calling this Planned Parenthood attack for what it really is: It's a pap smear campaign," he said. "That's exactly what it is. And in a pap smear campaign, people don't care about facts." The segment ends with an absurdist enactment of what it would look like if the GOP succeeds in its ongoing effort, and you can watch it all below. Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.