On Monday, a Texas grand jury delivered a surprising decision: After months of investigation into the claims made against Planned Parenthood in secretly recorded, heavily edited videos, the grand jury indicted not Planned Parenthood, but instead the two anti-abortion activists behind the videos. The charges? Using fake IDs for fraudulent purposes, and violating the ban on purchasing human organs. This twist follows months of anti-Planned Parenthood bloviating by GOP candidates like Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Carly Fiorina, who at one point dared President Obama to watch the tapes. On Tuesday’s Late Night, Seth Meyers responded to Fiorina’s dare with appropriate bafflement, asking “Is this a presidential campaign or a middle school sleepover?”
Meyers—who, in the post Jon Stewart era, has become one of the smartest political commenters in late night—gave the whole trumped-up scandal a closer look, noting that Planned Parenthood and independent fact-checkers have long insisted the videos were deceptive. But as amusing as it is to see the video makers indicted—one of them on the very same charge they attempted to pile on Planned Parenthood—Meyers sets aside the schadenfreude to point out that the investigation was a huge waste of time and resources for an organization whose mission is providing healthcare to women. “Instead of defunding Planned Parenthood,” Meyers suggests, “I propose we defund planned bullshit.”
