Never mind that Planned Parenthood is the country’s established leader in providing affordable reproductive and sexual health care to women and men in all 50 states. Never mind that, despite a well-crafted attempt to smear the organization for its perfectly legal program of donating – with compensation to cover costs but not profit – fetal tissues to research, there is no evidence of Planned Parenthood’s wrongdoing. Forget about the fact that both Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Larry Wolk declined to participate in an investigation of Planned Parenthood over its fetal tissue program. State Republican lawmakers were not satisfied to let well enough alone, and held an “informational” session on the program at the state Capitol on Monday.
Not surprisingly, the information revealed said much more about the event’s organizers than the group they sought to discredit.
The session, though not an official legislative activity, was clearly designed to look as though it fell under official state auspices. Held at the state Capitol by an elected group of Colorado lawmakers, the hearing, organizers say, was designed to guide future policy with regard to how the state treats Planned Parenthood. This is not coincidentally parallel to a congressional trek down the same path, wherein Republican lawmakers attempted to strip any public funding from Planned Parenthood because of the fetal tissue accusations. Hearings were held. Planned Parenthood was lambasted. And nothing much happened.
Colorado’s version of this kangaroo court seems constructed less to gather information about Planned Parenthood than it was intended to marshal support for an extreme right wing position that sees no place for the organization in public life. That Planned Parenthood and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment were absent from the listening session is telling. These two critical voices could have lent legitimacy to the session, were there any to lend. Both organizations were right to stay away from the Capitol on Monday. So, too, was Coffman, who sent a deputy to explain why Coffman declined to join other states in investigating Planned Parenthood – a move she was absolutely right to make.
There is no question that abortion is an emotionally and politically fraught medical procedure, nor is there any doubt that Planned Parenthood provides the service. But the organization spends the vast majority of its resources and energy helping avoid unplanned pregnancies and ensure that men and women have the tools and medical care they need to remain healthy. How unfortunate that the same cannot be said for some Republican lawmakers in Colorado.
Monday’s informational session was a disappointing low for the Legislature, though there is the potential for worse to come. Lawmakers are considering introducing measures in the coming legislative session aimed to punish Planned Parenthood. They should rethink that plan. As Cathy Alderman, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado, said, “These out-of-touch politicians should be ashamed of their relentless attacks on women’s health and their unending waste of taxpayer resources for their anti-women’s health political agenda.” Indeed they should.
