If there’s ever been one surefire topic to get Fox News’ panties in a twist over, it’s abortion. No excuse to whine about it is too trivial. So when the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation’s Planned Parenthood flap became a major story, I figured it was only a matter of time before the True Christians of the House of Murdoch began pouring in their support. After all… what’s the lives of a few women with cancer in light of stopping the evils of free choice? Komen has since then reversed its stance. But one thing is certain: It was not for lack of an effort to promote its defunding decision by Gretchen Carlson and Peter Johnson, Jr.

In the pre-reversal segment,  titled “Is Komen Playing Politics With People’s Lives?” Carlson opened disingenuously by saying that Komen is accused of caving to political pressure - followed by the following quote from Senator Barbara Boxer:

“I was perplexed and troubled to see the decision by Susan G. Komen for the cure to cut off funding for life-saving breast cancer screenings through Planned Parenthood because of a political witch hunt by House Republicans.”

Carlson smugly replied that the charity claims this isn’t the case and played a small portion of this statement by founder Nancy Brinker.

Carlson set the conversation up by saying that the reason Planned Parenthood’s funding was cut was because it was “under investigation.” 

But, um, Gretch? You kinda left a couple things out. For instance, Susan G. Komen VP Karen Handel? She ran for governor on a pro-lifeplatform.  Brinker was confronted about this on MSNBC by Andrea Mitchell, and she faltered her story. A little trip on the Wayback Machine shows Handel declaring her stance without a shadow of a doubt.

Since my opponents and others continue to misrepresent my views on Life, I want to be abundantly clear about my core beliefs. I am staunchly and unequivocally pro-life. I believe in the sanctity and inherent dignity of human life, and I will be a pro-life governor who will work tirelessly to promote a culture of life in Georgia.

Later in the statement, she says that despite Planned Parenthood being the only eligible vendor to meet the criteria for funding, she planned to defund them upon election:

My opponents have recently recycled old attacks against me concerning Fulton County’s funding of some programs through Planned Parenthood. They are doing so without providing any context and continue to omit several key and important facts. First, let me be clear, since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood. During my time as Chairman of Fulton County, there were federal and state pass-through grants that were awarded to Planned Parenthood for breast and cervical cancer screening, as well as a “Healthy Babies Initiative.” The grant was authorized, regulated, administered and distributed through the State of Georgia. Because of the criteria, regulations and parameters of the grant, Planned Parenthood was the only eligible vendor approved to meet the state criteria. Additionally, none of the services in any way involved abortions or abortion-related services. In fact, state and federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for abortions or abortion related services and I strongly support those laws. Since grants like these are from the state I’ll eliminate them as your next Governor.

It bears repeating- Handel is the charity’s VP and speculation over Handel’s role in the decision is newsworthy. Funny how Carlson didn’t see fit to mention that part before introducing Peter Johnson Jr.

“Correct,” Johnson began, “Planned Parenthood is under investigation by Congressman Cliff Stearns of Florida, who launched a Congressional investigation last September to determine whether in fact Planned Parenthood, which performs more than 300,000 abortions a year - 9 out of 10 pregnant women that go to Planned Parenthood will have abortions whether they were using federal funds for those abortions. And that’s against the law.”

Stearns has been working to have Planned Parenthood defunded for years. His own website said that his efforts got him the Family Research Council’s True Blue” award in 2009. He also released a statement for Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government that prior to the investigation, he was openly planning to use a Live Action video to have them defunded. From the statement:

Although Planned Parenthood eventually ordered new training for its employees, I have a better solution – defund it.

At the end of the statement:

Defunding Planned Parenthood should be a fiscal and moral priority for Congress, and for the American people.

Funny how “we report, you decide” Fox News didn’t mention any of that. Nor was the fact that the video was a  hoax. But why would they?  After all, Fox did promote Lila Rose long after that little fact came out.

Johnson characterized the issue as a “parcel of the culture war meeting the health wars in America now.” He went on to say that Planned Parenthood has an ad on the airwaves commending President Obama on his contraception mandate that Catholic bishops and groups are condemning.  

Johnson sounded like a Komen PR release as he added, “Foundations (such as Komen)… have the right to make a determination about how and where they’re giving money. If the Komen Foundation’s not giving money to Planned Parenthood, I think you can assume and rest assured that they will find other outlets that will also provide mammograms, that will also provide biopsies, that will also provide breast health services, especially to underserved, underprivileged women who need those services so badly in this country.

No opposing view, slanted narrative, conservative-agenda talking points – pretty much defines that “Fair and Balanced,” don’t it?