MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle did not bother to check her facts Friday when she criticized a pro-life lawmaker who wants to defund the abortion chain Planned Parenthood.
Ruhle claimed U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida had his facts wrong on her show, but it turns out that Ruhle is the one who was wrong.
Just a day earlier, the MSNBC host claimed that Planned Parenthood is a “primary health care” provider for millions of women and criticized pro-lifers for drawing so much attention to its abortion practices.
“For millions of women, it’s their primary health care!” Ruhle said Thursday. “You know, we like, people like to give the quick and dirty, ‘Planned Parenthood stands for abortion.’ It doesn’t, it stands for women’s basic health.”
On Friday, her support of the abortion chain escalated into blatantly false claims.
Florida Rep. Francis Rooney was arguing for defunding Planned Parenthood on “Velshi & Ruhle,” and stated that Planned Parenthood has decreased its non-abortion activities, which is consistent with Planned Parenthood’s own statistics.
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Ruhle challenged his claim, rebutting, “I don’t know where you read that but I don’t believe that’s true based on our reporting and what we cover.”
“It’s actually somewhat stagnant with what they do in terms of abortion but they’ve seen huge increases in breast cancer screenings, cervical cancer screenings, and actually the amount of men that are going to Planned Parenthood to get screenings,” she falsely stated.
According to Planned Parenthood’s own annual reports, Ruhle is wrong.
In 2015, Planned Parenthood performed 328,348 abortions, nearly 5,000 more than the previous year. That same year, its prenatal services dropped almost 50 percent to 9,419, and adoption referrals, while up slightly, remained extremely low at 2,889.
Its patient numbers, contraception services, breast exams and cancer screenings are down, too, despite receiving taxpayer-funding increases under President Barack Obama’s administration. Breast exams, for example, dropped by more than 42,000, while colonoscopies dropped by more than 2,000 and cancer screenings overall fell by about 17,000, according to Planned Parenthood’s most recent annual report.
The abortion group does not offer much of anything for women who want to get pregnant or are pregnant already and want their babies. A recent undercover investigation by Live Action revealed that dozens of Planned Parenthood facilities across the country did not offer any help to women seeking prenatal care, ultrasounds or adoption information.
The mainstream media does not have to look far to find these facts. Planned Parenthood makes its annual reports public and easily accessible online. So there should be no excuse for top-of-the-industry journalists like Ruhle.
