Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office will “set up a movie screen and speakers and play on loop the videos of Planned Parenthood employees talking about the harvesting of unborn babies” for protesters gathered outside the governor’s mansion this afternoon, according to a statement from the governor’s office.
Protesters have gathered in Baton Rouge in response to his decision to strip Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood clinics. Jindal’s presidential campaign said it believes free cookies and beverages will be served to the protesters as well.
“Planned Parenthood supporters are welcome to protest,” Jindal said in a statement. “We hope the protestors will take a minute to watch them so they’ll have an opportunity to see first-hand our concerns with Planned Parenthood’s practices.”
The governor’s office noted that many Planned Parenthood supporters, including those at the White House, have not viewed the undercover videos that have sparked intense debate about the federal government’s funding of Planned Parenthood. The most recent video features a whistleblower describing removing brain tissue from a fetus whose heart was still beating.
Earlier on Thursday, Fox News asked Jindal about the term “anchor babies,” which describes children born to illegal immigrants for the purpose of making deportation of the parents more difficult and to grant U.S. citizenship to the children. The New York Times has dubbed the term “offensive” and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton rebuked former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s use of the term on Twitter, saying, “They’re just babies.”
Asked about whether “anchor babies” is an offensive term, Jindal, an outspoken critic of illegal immigration, used Clinton’s comment as an opportunity to pivot to the Planned Parenthood videos.
“What I find offensive is Hillary Clinton, the Left, when you look at those Planned Parenthood videos, they refuse to call them babies,” Jindal said. “They call them fetal tissue. They call them specimens. That’s what’s offensive.”
“They’re [Democrats] a bunch of science-deniers.”
Combatting Planned Parenthood has become a key part of Jindal’s arsenal on the presidential campaign trail. The governor appears to be counting on success in Iowa and likely hopes his pro-life positions will help him succeed among the state’s evangelical Christian voters. The Family Leader, an influential social conservative organization led by Bob Vander Plaats, has just begun touting a rally against Planned Parenthood it will hold in northwest Iowa on Sept. 1, featuring Jindal.
