As Live Action’s Calvin Freiburger reported, Donald Trump has made some confusing statements about Planned Parenthood. Again.
Despite having pledged to fully defund the group, Trump seemed to imply funding could continue if the money didn’t support Planned Parenthood’s abortion services. In an interview last month on “Meet the Press,” the presidential candidate got this question from Chuck Todd…
Democrats will say that money they give to Planned Parenthood does not go to abortions, that the money they give to Planned Parenthood only goes to other women’s health including mammograms and things like that. If you knew the government money were only going to that, would you support funding Planned Parenthood?
Trump’s response wasn’t the clearest. He initially said, “Yeah, if it didn’t have to do with abortions,” and then went on to tout the “very good work” on “lot’s of women’s issues” that his “many, many” female friends say Planned Parenthood does. While that seems to imply he would continue funding Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion related activities, Trump followed with this:
Planned Parenthood does a lot of good, does a really good job on a lot of different areas, but not on abortion. So I am not gonna fund it if it’s doing the abortion. I am not gonna fund it. Now they say it’s three percent, and it’s four percent, some people say it’s sixty percent. I don’t believe it’s sixty percent, by the way, I think it’s probably a much lower number. But Planned Parenthood does some very good work. But I would defund as long as they’re doing abortions.
A few things should be clarified here. One is that contrary to what Chuck Todd says, Planned Parenthood doesn’t do mammograms. It does do abortions, however–over three hundred thousand every year.
According to Planned Parenthood, tax dollars don’t subsidize their abortion business, as the money can only be used for other purposes. While that might be true in theory, the graphic below explains how well it works in practice:
Further, far from threatening women’s access to healthcare, defunding Planned Parenthood could actually improve it (more on that later). But while women wouldn’t be negatively impacted, there are definitely some men who’d have big problems if Planned Parenthood wasn’t around.
Although sexual abuse is often hard to detect, warning signs can crop up. Colorado’s Office of Children, Youth, & Families explains that when a child under fourteen “becomes pregnant or contracts a venereal disease,” it’s time to get suspicious. Timothy Smith understood that, which is why he brought his thirteen year-old stepdaughter to Planned Parenthood for an abortion after getting her pregnant. Thankfully for him, staff there weren’t too concerned; one later explained that “being thirteen and pregnant alone is not a red flag.”
Smith wasn’t unique; fellow child rapists Luis Gonzalez-Jose, John Blanks, Jr., Adam Gault, Joseph Coles, Kevon Walker, Edgar Ramirez, and Grey David Woods obtained coverup abortions from Planned Parenthood too.
Alleged serial rapist Tyler Kost appears to have gotten a hand without even knowing it. When one of his alleged victims went to Planned Parenthood, she was told that reporting the assault would involve too much work. The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office has said an investigation could have been opened months earlier if a report had been filed.
That lack of concern at Planned Parenthood is something Live Action investigators have repeatedly documented. Using hidden cameras, they’ve caught staff offering to hide hide abusive relationships and set up abortions on underage prostitutes who “can’t speak English” and “won’t know what’s going on.”
This type of outfit shouldn’t receive taxpayer funding, no matter how much “good work” Donald Trump thinks they do. Thankfully, a better alternative exists.
Throughout the country, more than thirteen thousand federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) supply care to people with limited means. They’re not only far more accessible than Planned Parenthood, they also provide more services, performing over five hundred thousand mammograms annually.
Tell Congress you want Planned Parenthood’s funding sent to FQHCs instead. While you’re at it, tell the presidential contenders that this isn’t an issue pro-lifers are willing to compromise on. If they’re confused about that, then it’s something we need to straighten out.
