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Gayle King On CBS: ‘Some Would Call Abortion Murder’

   DailyWire.com
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 16: Gayle King attends the world premiere of "Cats" at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on December 16, 2019 in New York City.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Journalist Gayle King delivered a rather surprising presentation of the pro-life argument during a segment on “CBS This Morning” in which she grilled Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson about abortion, arguing that some people would consider the practice murder.

Speaking about the current case before the Supreme Court regarding the state of Louisiana requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges to nearby hospitals, ensuring patient safety, Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil not only noted that pro-lifers consider abortion murder but also noted that the general public largely agrees with the Louisiana law. Opponents of the law say it will put numerous abortion providers out of business, forcing women to go to just a few select clinics.

“There’s a recent poll by Kaiser that found the majority of Americans, 69% support the idea of doctors having admitting privileges if they’re going to be doing abortions. So is this a case where public opinion is out of line with the law or are you guys out of line with public opinion?” asked Dokoupil.

“[Abortion] is one of the safest medical procedures there is,” responded Johnson.

“You would call it safe. Some people would call it murder,” Gayle King fired back.

Johnson corrected herself to say that “safe” meant only for the woman getting the procedure.

“That’s what we’re talking about. There are — and this was brought up yesterday. There are moral arguments with respect to accessing abortion. But it is the law of the land that a woman seeking an abortion has the right to have access to one,” said Johnson.

As noted by Newsbusters, the conversation shifted into safer territory for Johnson after that.

Alexis McGill Johnson’s passionate defense of abortion comes as Planned Parenthood has reported record-high profits from the practice.

“Planned Parenthood reported a record-high number of abortions and government funding for 2018-2019, despite encountering a wave of Republican-led measures designed to restrict resources and access to the controversial procedure,” Fox News reported in January.

The organization’s annual report released in January showed that Planned Parenthood received a whopping $617 million in taxpayer funds for the fiscal year ending in June 2018 — a full 9% increase from the previous year and representing 37% of its overall organizational funding. Those funds could decline with the next fiscal year, given the Trump administration’s efforts to strip Planned Parenthood with “executive-level funding for clinics that refer clients for abortion.”

Alexis McGill Johnson said that the organization has been forced out of government-funded programs due to “unethical” gag rules on referring women for abortions.

“We stand at an inflection point for reproductive health and rights,” Johnson said. “Our opponents moved to dismantle our nation’s program for affordable birth control this year, forcing providers like Planned Parenthood out of the program with an unethical gag rule.”

Planned Parenthood has always maintained that abortion constitutes just 4% of the organization’s services. Pro-life advocates have countered that assertion, arguing that Planned Parenthood manipulates the statistics to conceal its profitability.

“Let’s say a woman comes into Planned Parenthood for one service—an abortion,” pro-life Lila Rose argued in a Prager U video. “Before providing an abortion, Planned Parenthood has to confirm that the woman is pregnant, right? So, they administer another service—a pregnancy test. That’s two services! Then, after the abortion, on your way out the door, they hand you a prescription. That’s three services!”

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