MSNBC hosts Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle went on a tangent Thursday promoting Planned Parenthood during a discussion on Senate Republicans' newly unveiled health care bill.
Velshi, Ruhle, and their panel were discussing the Senate health care bill, which Republicans made public for the first time earlier that day, when they turned to Planned Parenthood and defended its operations and funding.
The GOP bill, like its counterpart in the House, would defund Planned Parenthood for one year.
"We have framed this whole thing as Planned Parenthood being an abortion factory, but in fact, for many women, it is primary health care," Velshi said.
"For millions of women, it's their primary health care!" Ruhle said emphatically. "You know, we like, people like to give the quick and dirty, 'Planned Parenthood stands for abortion.' It doesn't, it stands for women's basic health."
"When women think about their basic health, that's the doctor they consider," Ruhle continued. "My husband can tell you everything he knows about his cholesterol, about his heart rate—he knows all those things. When he gets the flu, he has a doctor to call. Women, it is their OB-GYN, and to say we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, that's millions of Americans."
Velshi went through a list on a nearby screen of "Planned Parenthood Services," which included a range of services, including abortion.
A former manager of a Planned Parenthood facility said in a video released earlier this year that the organization has quotas for how many abortions to perform.