Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards claimed on Monday that the undercover videos that showed the selling of baby parts “created the kind of climate that we are now seeing that leads to the harassment of doctors and the violence at clinics.”
Appearing on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” in the wake of the shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood facility which killed three, Richards said, “there are only a handful of centers in the country that allow women to donate fetal tissue. There is no profit involved. There is nothing like that. In fact, at this point, not a single clinic in this country is receiving even reimbursement for costs.”
Answering Mitchell’s question, “Can you respond to the continuing rhetoric about selling baby parts?” Richards claimed, “This is an issue that I think has created a lot of hysteria by these incredibly highly edited videos and unfortunately, created the kind of climate that we are now seeing that leads to the harassment of doctors and the violence at clinics which really just has to stop.” (RELATED: Media Rushes To Blame Christians, Republicans For Planned Parenthood Shooting)
Richards also addressed Congressional defunding of Planned Parenthood in the interview, “Planned Parenthood is fully cooperating with Congress. We have provided tens of thousands of pages of documents. I spent five hours in front of a congressional committee. We are fully cooperative. They have found zero evidence of any wrongdoing at Planned Parenthood. We now have a record five committees by this U.S. House of Representatives trying to investigate Planned parenthood. I frankly think that what I wish Congress would spend their time on is thinking about how to get more women in this country health care that’s affordable and accessible — the kind that we provide to nearly three million people every single year.”