Hollywood actress and pro-choice activist Scarlett Johansson says any talk about cutting funding to controversial abortion provider Planned Parenthood is “nuts.”
In an exclusive interview for the upcoming May issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, Johansson, 31, discusses using Planned Parenthood’s services, saying that with country facing issues such as terrorism and “global warming,” a conversation about defunding Planned Parenthood is evidence “we’re moving backward.”
“There are countries at war, there’s terrorism, global warming, and we’re like, ‘We should definitely cut the budget for Planned Parenthood. Let’s take away the availability of women’s health initiatives!’” she said. “It’s nuts. We’re talking about preventing cervical and breast cancers.”
Johansson adds: “Growing up, I used [Planned Parenthood’s] services. All my girlfriends did—not just for birth control but for Pap smears and breast exams. You read about the rise of back-alley abortions, women having to mutilate themselves and teenagers having to seek help in unsafe conditions, and for what?!”
“We’re moving backward when we’re supposed to be moving forward,” she added
Planned Parenthood again came scrutiny last year after videos recorded in secret by David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress allegedly showed the organization’s personnel negotiating the sale of the livers, lungs, hearts and other organs of aborted babies.
Planned Parenthood’s alleged selling of aborted unborn children has been a heated topic on the campaign trail and in the debates.
Citing the organization’s other free health services for women, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump said in February he would “defund Planned Parenthood as long as they’re doing abortions.”
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz described Planned Parenthood as a “criminal enterprise” and called for an investigation into its business practices.
Cruz told Breitbart News exclusively last August: “It is not sufficient to simply say we’re spending taxpayer funds for one division of the ongoing criminal enterprise, rather than anther division. We should defund Planned Parenthood across the board. Beyond that, the Department of Justice should investigate this criminal conduct and prosecute any and all crimes that investigation uncovers.”
Johansson has not made an official endorsement, but said last year she was “excited” for Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.
On Tuesday’s episode of The View on ABC, Clinton reiterated on her claim from last weekend that an unborn child, even on its due date, has no constitutional rights. A Planned Parenthood political advocacy executive criticized Clinton for referring to a “fetus” as an “unborn child”
In collaboration with Planned Parenthood, Johansson launched a pro-abortion T-shirt line in 2014.
Read Johansson’s partial Cosmo interview here. The May edition of the magazine will be available on newsstands on April 12.