Congresswoman compares abortion to heart surgery

In their attempt to deflect attention away from the scandalous video expose of Planned Parenthood executives negotiating the sale of aborted baby body parts, critics say America’s largest abortion provider and its supporters are resorting to increasingly bizarre tactics and statements.

They appear to have stopped even trying to explain or justify their actions but rather focus on attacking the deliverer of the message that has exposed their alleged crimes.

One of the most shocking comments came from Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., in the Hill Friday.

Rep. Jan Shakowsky, R-Ill.

Schakowsky continued the attack on the producer of the videos, Center for Medical Progress, saying the organization needs to be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

To Schakowsky, the possible crime of illegally entering a Planned Parenthood clinic is greater than the crime of trafficking in human fetal body tissue.

Schakowsky told the Hill:

“I am concerned they’re not investigating the Center for Medical Progress, which looks like they may have violated laws in doing this kind of undercover investigation. I’m waiting to hear from the DOJ. I think that’s the way it should be handled.”

Schakowsky said she has written to both the DOJ and the California Attorney’s General Office urging them to investigate the Center, which she said is looking for “the most repulsive way” to turn the public against funding for Planned Parenthood. She explained further to the Hill:

“There’s nothing very pretty about any kind of medical procedure. Frankly, a conversation about exactly what happened in heart surgery would probably make people squeamish as well.”

Dr. Alveda King

Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and head of African-American outreach for Priests for Life, said most Americans will be able to see through the obvious absurdity of Schakowsky’s comparison of an abortion with heart surgery.

“The heart surgery is designed to save a life, and the abortion is designed to take a life, and then to profit off of the harvesting of the organs of the little victim,” King told WND. “Ms. Schakowsky should know better.”

Carl Gallups, a Baptist pastor, author and radio talk-show, also found irony in Schakowsky’s statement.

“So, Schakowsky’s defense of Planned Parenthood’s apparent violation of state and federal laws as well as the violation of basic human dignity and decency is to ‘shoot the messenger and ignore the message?’” Gallups told WND. “But, why should we be surprised. With each passing day, our nation and many of its ‘leaders’ are being given over, more and more, to a depraved mind – just as the scriptures predicted for the times in which we are living.”

Gallups is author of the book, “Final Warning: Understanding the Trumpet Days of Revelation.”

Selling organs from human fetal tissue is a violation federal law, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Partial-birth abortion is also a violation of federal law, a practice that Deborah Nucatola, executive director of medical practice for Planned Parenthood, all but acknowledged is being done in the first video.

“To compare heart surgery to an abortion and subsequent dissection of the human baby body parts for resale is ludicrous,” Gallups said. “One procedure, heart surgery, is an active process in saving a life. The other, abortion, is an active process in purposely destroying a life and then profiting in the sale of the ‘left-over’ body parts. In my estimation, Ms. Schakowsky is speaking from the viewpoint of a depraved mind.”

She’s also speaking out of desperation to keep the federal money flowing into what has become a very profitable industry.

Planned Parenthood received $528 million in federal funding in the current fiscal year – 40 percent of its total budget. That is unlikely to be cut off or even reduced as long as President Obama is in the White House. But the group could be just one election away from losing that security if Republicans can keep both chambers of Congress and capture the White House.

Bush served on Bloomberg’s pro-abortion foundation

Almost all of the Republican candidates for the White House have pledged to defund the organization if elected.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla.

One of the top GOP front-runners, however, is in the position of having to defend his record as a director on the board of a foundation created by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that donates heavily to Planned Parenthood.

The Bloomberg Family Foundation gave $50 million to “expand reproductive health,” including lobbying foreign nations to loosen restrictions on abortions, reported LifeSite News. “The foundation sent ‘tens of millions’ to Planned Parenthood and financed its advocacy of ‘unrestricted access to abortion’ around the world.”

Bush has not yet addressed this apparent conflict with his public stance on abortion, but his staff defended his pro-life merits when asked about it in April, before his campaign had formally been launched.

“Gov. Bush was honored to serve on the board of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which does a lot of good work across the world,” Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell told the Tampa Bay Times. “As a board member, Gov. Bush did not vote on or approve individual projects or programs.”

Although Bush and Bloomberg “disagree on several policy issues, both share a passion for improving education in America,” she added – a reference to their mutual embrace of the Common Core curriculum and other policies, LifeSite reported.

Are the Republicans serious about defunding Planned Parenthood?

Gallups, for one, is skeptical about the strength of the GOP commitment to the pro-life cause.

He points out that they could have slashed Planned Parenthood funding many times in the past.

“We had a Republican president, the Republican Senate and the Republican House all at once along with George Bush (in the White House). There was no effort to do it then,” he said. “This is a dog and pony show, right before elections.”

As the GOP’s defunding effort gains momentum, Planned Parenthood is attempting to shift the debate to its opponent’s tactics, hoping to generate outrage while diverting attention from the topic of harvesting infant organs for “research.”

Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards has hired a new PR firm that encouraged her to go on the attack on Sunday-morning talk shows July 26, repeatedly calling the producers of the videos “extremists” and “militants” who engaged in illegal activity. Democrats have taken their cue, hammering home these same talking points relentlessly all week.

Whether the Republican leadership is serious about cutting off funding or just playing politics, Democrats appear to be bracing for a fight.

“People take it seriously because if there’s going to be floor votes, that’s a real thing,” a Democrat aide told the Hill Thursday, “especially if Republicans are going to actually go forward and attempt to shut down the government over this – we’re obviously concerned about where Republicans may try to take this.”

The great unknown is the still unreleased videos of Planned Parenthood. Center for Medical Progress has said it accumulated enough footage to release at least nine or 10 more videos.

The last two have shown grisly scenes of aborted baby parts inside Planned Parenthood clinics.

Over the last month, the footage has received attention from the highest members of Congress: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the videos “very disturbing,” while Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he wanted to “vomit” after watching them.

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