Claim about Planned Parenthood spending mostly true

“Millions of dollars are spent by Planned Parenthood to elect Democrats to the House of Representatives and the Senate.” — Sean Duffy on Sept. 18 in a speech

During debate on a bill to defund Planned Parenthood, Republican U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin alluded to secretly recorded videos that prompted the legislation, then he made a claim about the group’s political activity.

“If you watch this debate, you have to ask: How could anybody defend the practices at Planned Parenthood?” Duffy said on the House floor Sept. 18, the day the House approved the one-year defunding.

“Harvesting body parts. How could anybody defend that? It’s an easy answer. Look in (the) political season. Millions of dollars, millions of dollars are spent by Planned Parenthood to elect Democrats to the House of Representatives and to the Senate. This isn’t about babies; this is about money.”

A reader asked us to check Duffy’s claim. By law, the operational, medical clinics of Planned Parenthood cannot spend money in politics. But separate entities that are affiliated with Planned Parenthood can, and they spent millions just in the 2014 election cycle to elect Democrats.

We rated Duffy’s statement Mostly True.