Embattled Planned Parenthood has an unlikely ally in the Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
Still reeling from undercover videos exposing high-level executives haggling over prices for fetal parts, and Republicans in Congress calling for an investigation into the group or defunding, the provider of abortions and other health services praised Trump late Tuesday in a statement.
“Donald Trump seems to have realized that banning all abortions, shutting down the government, and defunding Planned Parenthood are extreme positions that are way too far outside the mainstream for even him to take,” said spokesman Eric Ferrero in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“We hope that the rest of the GOP field will wake up and reconsider their extreme and unpopular positions on defunding preventive care, abortion bans, and the other economic issues that women and their families care about,” he said.
Planned Parenthood’s remarks came after Trump told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Tuesday morning that he is fine with parts of Planned Parenthood’s mission.
“The problem that I have with Planned Parenthood is the abortion situation. It is like an abortion factory, frankly,” Trump said. “And you can’t have it and you just shouldn’t be funding it. That should not be funded by the government, … that’s my biggest problem with Planned Parenthood because really if you look at it, and you look at the work they do, it really has become so heavily centered on abortion, and you can’t have that.”
Trump left the door open for funding certain aspects of Planned Parenthood, in a comment that went beyond what most Republicans are willing to give the group these days.
“I would look at the good aspects of [Planned Parenthood] and … I’m sure they do some things properly and good and [that are] good for women, and I would look at that, and I would look at other aspects also,” said Trump. “But we have to take care of women. We have to absolutely take care of women.”
Planned Parenthood currently receives half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding, and many Republican members of Congress have called for it to be completely defunded.
Trump has changed positions on abortion, going from “strongly pro-choice” in 1999 to claiming he was pro-life at CPAC in 2011. He told CNN that he is for abortion exceptions.
“Trump’s vacillation on Planned Parenthood funding is deeply troubling, and reveals an ignorance about their horrific abortion practices,” said Lila Rose, the President of Live Action, a pro-life group. “That is the only way he could recommend to continue funding this abortion conglomerate that is totally unnecessary.”
The other GOP presidential candidates have called for defunding Planned Parenthood, making Trump the group’s “favorite Republican presidential candidate,” according to the Daily Beast.
