The network that has brought us endless segments drumming up fake "scandals" on everything from the IRS, to Benghazi, to Fast and Furious, to the "deep state" having it in for Trump, to Obama eating arugula and wearing tan suits, to the War on Christmas, to daily attacks on Robert Mueller and the Russiagate investigation, to you name it, is now suddenly concerned about the spread of "misinformation."
The Trump administration is about to deal another blow to Planned Parenthood and the women who rely on them for reproductive health services this week:
The Trump administration is proposing to bar clinics that provide abortion services or referrals from receiving federal family-planning funds, a far-reaching move that would deprive Planned Parenthood and other women’s health centers of millions of dollars a year.
The proposal would require a “bright line” of physical and financial separation between clinics that receive $260 million annually in federal funding and any organization that provides abortions or referrals to abortion clinics. [...]
The proposal largely mirrors requirements first adopted during Ronald Reagan’s presidency but never enforced. Unlike the Reagan rule, the Trump proposal would not prohibit clinics that receive federal funds from counseling clients about abortion, officials said. A senior White House official said that provision was left out to try to prevent litigation.
However, the new rule would bar grant recipients from referring women to abortion providers. [...]
The new proposal would affect funding for domestic clinics. Under the federal Title X program, health centers receive grants to provide basic services such as cancer screenings, birth control, screenings for sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy tests and well-woman exams. Currently, those clinics are permitted to provide abortions using nonfederal funds.
Under the latest proposal, that would change. Clinics such as Planned Parenthood that provide abortion services or that refer women elsewhere for the procedure would no longer be eligible to receive any federal cash. Planned Parenthood, which serves 41 percent of the 4 million patients receiving Title X care, stands to lose as much as $60 million a year.
But the new policy would have ripple effects far beyond Planned Parenthood. Susan Buchanan, chief executive of the Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center, said Title X funding accounts for $550,000, or roughly 20 percent, of her annual budget. The new rule, she said, would put “us in the position of having to make a Hobbesian choice” between the 10 percent of patients who receive abortions and the rest of its clients.
Buchanan said clinics such as hers have helped Colorado dramatically reduce unwanted pregnancy by providing women with long-acting reversible contraceptives. The state’s teen birthrate dropped 50 percent between 2009 and 2014, she said; losing federal funding could jeopardize this progress.
“They’re shooting themselves in the foot, really,” she said.
The news was being celebrated over on state-run TV, of course, and during a segment on Fox's The Ingraham Angle, guest host Pete Hegseth and right wing columnist Kristin Tate praised the Trump administration's decision, and proceeded to lie to their audience about the percentage of abortion services provided by Planned Parenthood, and then the two lost it completely when their liberal guest, Jehmu Greene, called them on their lies about tax dollars paying for abortion services, and heaven forbid dared to suggest that no one would be surprised if we found out Trump paid for multiple abortions:
Tate started of with the disclaimer that this change isn’t about making abortion “illegal” or “stripping women of their rights” as some critics have suggested but rather “separating taxpayer funds from abortion operations.”
Meanwhile, Greene insisted that Planned Parenthood isn’t performing abortions “on the taxpayer’s dime.” She then made a claim that shocked both Tate and Hegseth.
“I think that what’s outrageous here is that no one would be surprised if President Trump himself hadn’t personally funded multiple abortions,” Greene said.
“Do you have evidence of that?” Hegseth asked.
“No, I have no evidence,” Greene responded. “But-”
“Hold on, hold on! You’re just tossing that out!” Hegseth reacted. “So we don’t need evidence for those types of claims?”
“Jehmu, how could you say that on national television with no evidence?!?” Tate exclaimed. “This is so irresponsible, Jehmu!”
“I’m just saying no one would be surprised,” Greene said. “Would you be surprised, Kristin?”
The left-leaning Fox News contributor went to say that Trump is taking “many women’s access to basic health care.”
“Jehmu, stop spreading misinformation!” Tate shouted. “This is ridiculous.”
Not ridiculous at all considering the multiple allegations that Trump has had unprotected sex, and the allegation that Trump's fixer, Michael Cohen, paid hush money to a Playboy model who said she had an abortion after an affair with an RNC official.
The only people who might be surprised are the poor saps who get all of their "news" from Fox, where no one is allowed to discuss Trump's affairs and the accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
