Planned Parenthood chief: Defunding vote ‘all about politics’

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards on Monday said the Senate’s planned vote to defund her organization is “about denying women access to healthcare in this country.”

In an interview on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Richards said the Monday evening vote is “all about politics.”

“The vote tonight is about denying women access to birth control, cancer screenings, testing and treatment for many women where Planned Parenthood is their only doctor,” she said.

The vote on the stand-alone bill would cut off funding to the organization and redirect the funding to other women’s health organizations.

{mosads}Senate Republicans, however, are not expected to get the 60 votes necessary to advance the measure.

The vote comes as Planned Parenthood faces strong backlash to multiple videos leaked by an an anti-abortion group that show officials discussing the transfer of fetal tissue and organs for medical research.

GOP lawmakers and presidential candidates have questioned whether the organization profited from those donations, and GOP leaders have tasked congressional committees with launching investigations.

“There were no laws broken,” Richards said Monday. “It’s absolutely illegal to make any profit and we do not. Planned Parenthood makes zero profit on any fetal tissue donations. There are companies that do this work that are not related to Planned Parenthood. We are 100 percent non-profit and we make zero money from fetal tissue donations.”

Richards said Planned Parenthood is only reimbursed for the costs of preserving and transferring the tissue.

The group responsible for the videos, the Center for Medical Progress, shot and edited footage that Richards said resulted in “distorted and deceptive videos.”

“This is completely a political campaign,” she said. “Planned Parenthood has been around for 99 years and we plan to be around for another 99.”