HHS Secretary Becerra refuses to admit partial-birth abortions are illegal in House testimony
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra refused to admit that partial-birth abortions are illegal in an exchange with Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., April 6, 2022.
The former CBS News reporter who quit her job so she could speak out on abortion rights announced on Monday that she has joined Planned Parenthood on a full-time basis.
Kate Smith, who covered "abortion access" for CBS from 2018 until last July, will be the senior director of news content at Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider.
Former CBS News reporter Kate Smith quit her job so she could speak out on abortion rights and joined Planned Parenthood on a full-time basis. (Twitter)
"Thrilled to be joining Planned Parenthood full-time on this exciting new project. Much, much more to come," Smith tweeted. The organization's political action committee Planned Parenthood Action Fund bills itself as nonpartisan but is overtly left-wing and seeks to elect pro-choice Democrats,.
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Smith came under fire from conservative critics for bringing an agenda to her reporting during her time at CBS News.
National Review once called her "Planned Parenthood's Ambassador to CBS News" in a scathing profile, noting her friendly coverage of the organization and tendency to rely on pro-choice sources and opinions in her news articles.
In 2020, she expressed sympathy to the Supreme Court's liberal judges over having to hear a case that she said could "gut" the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Smith also slammed then-Vice President Pence for promoting a pro-life event at the White House.
"Taking opinions out of it," Smith tweeted in 2020, "the VP holding a 'Life is Winning' event while literally thousands of Americans are dying every single day from the virus seems incredibly tone deaf."
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She added, "VP isn't wrong—Trump has certainly been the most anti-abortion rights President in history—but this week just doesn't seem like the right one to be celebrating that as we near 300,000 dead."
Last year when Smith quit CBS, she immediately spoke out about her support for abortion rights.
"Now that I’m not a reporter I can be candid about my own opinions on reproductive rights," Smith wrote. "I’ll say this: With or without Roe v Wade access to abortion is disappearing across the South and Midwest for low income women. And it’s happening more or less under the radar."
Abortion-rights supporters chant their objections at the Kentucky Capitol on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, in Frankfort, Ky., as Kentucky lawmakers debate overriding the governor's veto of an abortion measure. (AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner, File)
She continued, "It’s a pivotal moment for abortion rights, and one that deserves a lot of coverage and our attention. Editors, I know there’s reader and viewer fatigue when it seems like the millionth six-week ban. But it still major news and ought to be covered."
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Smith's new gig was quickly mocked by conservatives.
"Bout time they pay her for the pr work," National Journalism Center’s Becket Adams responded, while pundit Stephen L. Miller quipped, "So nothing changed from your previous job."
"The Planned Parenthood unofficial PR to Planned Parenthood official PR pipeline," journalist Jerry Dunleavy added.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and David Rutz contributed to this report.