Sex, laws and video tape

How Planned Parenthood became an enduring target of the GOP

By Michael E. Miller August 3, WashPost

Senate Republicans have said they will push for a procedural vote Monday to defund the women’s reproductive rights group.

Ostensibly, the vote is tied to the four now infamous videos, filmed covertly by antiabortion activists and featuring Planned Parenthood executives discussing in graphic detail how best to harvest fetal body parts.

Republicans have said they are shocked, disgusted and outraged over what they say is evidence of the group selling fetal tissue for profit. Planned Parenthood has denied the accusation and said the heavily edited videos are misleading.

Democrats have mostly backed the nonprofit and plan to block the vote. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton admitted the videos were “disturbing” but has also come out against Republican proposals to defund Planned Parenthood. The White House, meanwhile, has said the videos are the work of “extremists” and promised to veto any “ideologically driven” bill defunding Planned Parenthood.

Whatever happens Monday, however, this latest showdown is about more than a few grainy videos.

It’s really about Planned Parenthood itself: an organization that, for better or worse, has done more to change this country than almost any other in American history.

(More here.)