Donald Trump Praises Planned Parenthood But Says He Would Defund It

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump says he is not pro-abortion but still defended Planned Parenthood when his fellow GOP contenders brought up the topic on Thursday’s CNN debate in Houston.

The business tycoon reiterated that he is pro-life. However, he also believes that the organization has other important services besides abortion, which have greatly helped and improved the health of “millions of women” in the U.S.

“Donald thinks Planned Parenthood is wonderful,” rival Ted Cruz said, adding that he would definitely look into it should he become the president. Trump’s rivals have repeatedly questioned his “pro-life” stance since he was a “pro-choice” before.

Donald Trump thinks Planned Parenthood is wonderful, I think we ought to investigate and prosecute Planned Parenthood #GOPDebate

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 26, 2016

However, Trump says he supports the organization in its activities related to women’s health except abortion.

“As far as Planned Parenthood is concerned, I’m pro-life, I’m totally against abortion having to do with Planned Parenthood,” Trump said before the audience. “But millions and millions of women, cervical cancer, breast cancer, are helped by Planned Parenthood.”

He continued, “So you can say whatever you want, but they have millions of women going through Planned Parenthood that are helped greatly.”

.@realDonaldTrump speaks on Planned Parenthood during tonight’s #GOPDebate https://t.co/OgDvw7E5rv https://t.co/bQSVrvM5s3

— CNN (@CNN) February 26, 2016

Even though Trump sees the good in other services provided by the organization which are not related to abortion, he firmly declared that he would not fund the organization if he was elected President because of the “abortion factor,” an issue Republicans are not in favor of.

“And I wouldn’t fund it,” Trump boldly declared on the debate stage. “I would defund it because of the abortion factor which they say is three percent — I don’t know what percentage it is, but I would defund it because I’m pro-life. But millions of women are helped by Planned Parenthood,” the businessman turned politician explained during the GOP debate.

Thursday’s GOP debate was the second time Trump has stood by Planned Parenthood. Trump had previously defended the organization during the CBS News debate earlier this month when the outspoken GOP candidate argued it did “wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion.”

His recent stand on the subject is consistent with his previous statement back in August. The presidential hopeful reportedly told CNN that when it comes to the non-profit organization, he would “look at the good aspects of it” because he was sure the organization did a lot of good things for women, except abortion.

Donald Trump Acknowledges Merits of Planned Parenthood

The billionaire candidate was praised by Planned Parenthood for that previous 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.”

Although Trump claims that he would defund the organization, it is also worth mentioning that almost none of those Planned Parenthood abortions, as well as other abortion activities by any similar organizations, were funded by the federal government.

It seems Trump is unaware of the Hyde Amendment. Under the federal Hyde Amendment, Planned Parenthood and other similar groups are prohibited from using federal funds for abortion except if the pregnancy arises from rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is in danger during childbirth. This legislative provision was named after the late Representative Henry Hyde.

Trump on @meetthepress said he’d support fed funding @PPFA long as not for abortion. Has he heard of Hyde Amendment? pic.twitter.com/fJqc93oWs9

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) February 21, 2016

“Planned Parenthood does a really good job at a lot of different areas. But not on abortion,” the GOP candidate reportedly said in a separate interview when he talked about the organization. “So I’m not going to fund it if it’s doing the abortion. I am not going to fund it.”

However, in reality, he cannot defund Planned Parenthood as it is not run by taxpayers’ money.

[Image by Andrew Burton, Getty Images]