Mr. President,

Last year the nation was shocked by undercover videos produced by investigative journalists with the Center for Medical Progress, exposing Planned Parenthood’s sale of fetal body parts . . . and the callousness with which Planned Parenthood officials described their grisly work.

But as we know — as Planned Parenthood and their allies in the mainstream media hoped — outrage fades. Attention turns.

But not for long. For the abortion industry and its profiteers are never really beset by scandal — they are a scandal.

And so, just last month we got another reminder about the reality behind the talking points. Once again, it was the undercover journalists of the Center for Medical Progress, doing the investigative journalism the mainstream media won’t.

Once again, the video has been ignored by a pro-abortion media elite whose principal interest in the story is the prosecution of the journalists for daring to speak this truth to their power.

But the American people — and their representatives here in the Senate — deserve to know what the new video shows.

--It shows the founder of Planned Parenthood’s Consortium of Abortion Providers on a conference panel. She recounts a harrowing experience while performing an abortion: “An eyeball just fell down into my lap,” she says, “and that’s gross.” Her remark was greeted with laughter from her audience.

--It shows another Planned Parenthood doctor stating that “the fetus is a tough little object,” so “taking it apart” in the womb is “very difficult.” This comment echoes a previous undercover video, in which a Planned Parenthood doctor joked that the bones of 20-week-old fetuses were so strong that, “I have to hit the gym for this.”

--The video shows the director of abortion services for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast saying that she sometimes uses forceps to “pull off a leg or two” to ensure an unborn child dies before being born—in other words, to avoid the moment when our nation’s laws might protect that child.

--The video shows the medical director of Planned Parenthood in Michigan talking about surprising common ground between abortion doctors and pro-life activists. “ . . . We might actually both agree that there’s violence in here,” she said. “Let’s just give them all the violence, it’s a person, it’s killing. Let’s just give them all that.” 

That’s not what they say in public, Mr. President. It certainly isn’t what they tell their patients, the women who come to their clinics. Just in private, at industry conferences — between networking opportunities and drinks at the open bar.

Because they know. Deep down, everyone knows.

The Center for Medical Progress videos shock, but they don’t surprise. They don’t teach us anything we don’t already know. All they do is remind us of an inconvenient truth that demands our attention and our action.

It is certainly spurring the pro-abortion political machine into action. As expected, the Center for Medical Progress is once again the target of criminal and civil investigations designed to intimidate further questions about the abortion industry’s methods and money. But the truth will out, Mr. President.

But as we know, threats and intimidation are tactics of guilt and desperation, of the losing side in every battle ever fought. If Planned Parenthood were what they publicly declare themselves to be, they would welcome transparency. We all know why they hide because we know what they hide.

The question, as always, is not what they will do but what we will do.

And the answer, as always, is “as much as we can.”

We can start by enforcing existing abortion laws, and reforming others . . . for example, making the Mexico City policy permanent, so taxpayer money is not used to promote abortion to disadvantaged people overseas . . . or ending abortion after 20 weeks, when unborn children begin to feel pain.

We can confirm federal judges who follow the Constitution rather than reverse engineer their preferred policy outcomes.

The truth about abortion is spreading, because of advances in medical imaging . . . because of brave journalists . . . tireless activists . . . compassionate doctors and nurses. Statehouses are passing laws to protect American women and their children. The rising generation of young Americans is the most pro-life in decades. Because, Mr. President, they know too.

Little by little, the truth is fighting free, like green shoots through the frost. And one day, soon, we will reaffirm our nation’s principles in their dignified fullness and avow once again, that all men are created equal. All are entitled to life.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.