MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) should "stop insulting our intelligence" Tuesday by conflating opposition to Planned Parenthood with opposition to health care for women.
An angry Warren railed against her GOP colleagues from the well of the Senate on Monday night, saying their vote to defund Planned Parenthood was "just one more piece of a deliberate, methodical, orchestrated right-wing attack on women's rights."
Republicans, led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) and Rep. Diane Black (R., Tenn.), have reacted strongly to undercover videos released by a pro-life organization that show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal organs in graphic terms.
They have proposed to strip Planned Parenthood of its millions in taxpayer funding and to reallocate those resources to the roughly 9,000 women’s health clinics that do not provide abortions. Monday night’s procedural vote in the Senate garnered a 53-46 majority, but failed to meet the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.
"I come to ask my Republican colleagues a question," Warren said earlier that day. "Do you have any idea what year it is? Did you fall down, hit your head and think you woke up in the 1950s or the 1890s? Should we call for a doctor?"
Scarborough said that Warren was shielding Planned Parenthood from legitimate scrutiny by wrapping it in the inoffensive mantle of women’s health.
"I'm saying, conflating the right to choose with Planned Parenthood, conflating dollars with protecting women's health, that's just a red herring," Scarborough said. "It has been set up that way so you can't have this discussion without being against women's health. But you can be against the funding of Planned Parenthood without being against the support of women's health care. Nice try, Elizabeth."
Scarborough said that Warren’s ideological defense of Planned Parenthood was muddying an important debate.
"There are troubling things on those tapes, and everybody needs to open their eyes instead of reflexively talking about right-wing attacks on a woman's right to choose," Scarborough said. "Please stop insulting our intelligence, Elizabeth Warren. Stop."
Liberal co-host Mika Brzezinski, who has described her position on abortion as "admittedly convoluted," called the Planned Parenthood videos "really bad."
She predicted in a later segment that Planned Parenthood’s public image would be damaged as more videos are unveiled.