P. Parenthood Chief Goes Toe-to-Toe with Attackers

WASHINGTON -- Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards withstood nearly five hours of Republican attacks at a House hearing Tuesday.

It wasn't just about those recent controversial tapes released by David Daledian's Center for Medical Progress showing possible wrongdoing. It was also about whether the abortion giant should keep receiving more federal taxpayer dollars.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said definitely not – especially with the cuts in care Planned Parenthood has made in the last decade.

"There's a 53 percent reduction in cancer screenings, 42 percent reduction in breast exams and breast care," Chaffetz noted.

Republicans on the panel proposed moving those federal dollars to more worthy recipients.

"We simply want to shift the money from an organization caught doing what they were caught doing and give it to the community health centers," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said.

"Shift it from the 700 Planned Parenthood clinics; give it to the 13,000 federally-approved community health centers," he continued. "Take the money from the guys doing the bad things and give it to the ones who aren't."

But Richards begged to differ – not just about the abortion provider's worthiness to receive federal funds, but about the validity of the secretly recorded videotapes used against her organization.

"The outrageous accusations leveled against Planned Parenthood based on heavily doctored videos are offensive and categorically untrue," Richards told the lawmakers.

She went on to say, "This isn't really an attack on Planned Parenthood.  This is an attack on 2.7 million patients who each year choose Planned Parenthood as their health care provider."

"The facts are on our side," she said. "We're proud of the health care that we deliver every single year despite the animosity by some."

Richards suggested Planned Parenthood deserves federal funding because of the services it provides more than 2 million visitors a year.

Live Action's Lila Rose responds to Cecile Richards' defense of Planned Parenthood at the Congressional hearing.

But while Richards was arguing how valuable Planned Parenthood is, there was a news conference nearby completely contradicting that claim.

A number of pro-life groups announced they're launching GetYourCare.org – a site showing Americans where they can easily find nearby low-cost health alternatives -- far more centers than Planned Parenthood offers.

"On the website you'll see that for every one Planned Parenthood, there are 20 federally qualified health care centers," Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, said.

Just like Richards, congressional defenders of Planned Parenthood in the undercover video scandal attacked the undercover video production.

"This hearing today is promoted by a series of deceptively edited and purposely misleading videos," Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., charged.

But at the same news conference where GetYourCare.org was launched, the Alliance Defending Freedom announced that a highly regarded forensics firm, Coalfire Systems, has studied Daledian's videos in-depth.

"The videos are not edited; they're not manipulated," asserted Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer Casey Mattox, summing up the findings on the videos.

"The full version of these videos is posted online," he said. "And the only part that the world is being spared are moments like where David Daledian goes to the bathroom."

The committee holding the Tuesday hearing with Richards is one of four congressional panels scrutinizing Planned Parenthood and the more than $500 million it gets every year from the federal government.