Obama Defends Planned Parenthood In Video

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 3, 2012 2:37PM

President Obama voiced his support for Planned Parenthood in a video Monday, promising to stand with the women's health organization against attacks by conservative opponents Obama said were "playing politics" with women's healthcare and distilling the services they provide to being nothing more than an abattoir for killing fetuses.

"For you and for most Americans, protecting women's health is a mission that stands above politics, and yet over the past year you've had to stand up to politicians who wanted to deny millions of women the care they rely on and inject themselves into decisions that are best made between a women and her doctor," said Obama in a video posted to Planned Parenthood Action Fund's YouTube channel.

"Let's be clear here — women are not an interest group."

The Obama campaign has taken a prominent position on women's healthcare, with his administration's proposal requiring health care providers to offer contraception coverage igniting a debate over government overreach and bringing the Obama healthcare plan back to center stage in the presidential campaign.

Obama hasn't run away from the health care plan and has even touted it as a highlight of the major achievements of his first term. In the video, Obama took a veiled swipe at Mitt Romney, who compared Planned Parenthood to the Obama healthcare plan.

"When some professional politicians casually say they'll 'get rid of Planned Parenthood,' don't forget what they're really talking about — eliminating the funding for preventative care that millions of women rely on and leaving them to fend for themselves."