NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch is calling for Planned Parenthood to be defunded, and those federal funds diverted into buying metal detectors and paying for armed guards for schools. Loesch made her remarks on Tuesday’s “Fox & Friends” in a discussion about school mass shootings, just days after a gunman shot and killed ten people in a Texas high school.
“”How about we take the half a billion dollars from Planned Parenthood and redirect that into making sure schools are secured with armed security and metal detectors?” Loesch said.
On the right, many want the federal government to stop payments to Planned Parenthood, because they falsely claim the health services non-profit uses federal funds to perform abortions.
That’s false. Federal funds are not used to perform abortions, and there’s a federal law that prevents it.
Planned Parenthood performs many health services, for both women and men, and defunding the century-old organization would literally lead to millions of Americans losing access to health care.
One journalist decided to help Loesch better understand these realities.
ThinkProgress senior investigative reporter Joshua Israel responded via Twitter:
Some states have tried to defund Planned Parenthood. Courts have found those attempts illegal.
More recently, the Trump administration is working to take millions away from Planned Parenthood and other medical clinics by defunding any clinic that refers patients to a facility that performs abortions.