As Jon Schweppe reported earlier, Donald Trump recently said he would be open to funding the “good aspects” of Planned Parenthood (as if you can fund one without funding the other). Planned Parenthood, obviously, was ecstatic, releasing a statement praising him so heavily for his actions that The Daily Beast speculates he’s their “favorite Republican.”
“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.
“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,” Ferrero continued.
In other words, Trump is Planned Parenthood’s favorite Republican presidential candidate right now (or their least un-favorite).
Live Action’s Lila Rose isn’t having any of it, and just called out Trump for his new position, saying that the only reason he could support funding for Planned Parenthood is because he hasn’t watched the series of sting videos showing the organization profits from fetal organ sales:
Trump’s vacillation on Planned Parenthood funding is deeply troubling, and reveals an ignorance about their horrific abortion practices–their killing over 320,000 children a year, and bartering to sell the body parts of those they abort. It’s obvious from Mr. Trump’s comments that he has not watched the Planned Parenthood videos released by Center for Medical Progress. That is the only way he could recommend to continue funding this abortion conglomerate that is totally unnecessary and any organization that engages in these human rights abuses does not deserve a penny of tax payers’ money. It would be better spent on health services that would save the lives of women and babies. I challenge Mr. Trump to watch the videos.
Rose later took to Twitter, saying that his week-to-week flip flopping is a sign he’s untrustworthy:
.@RealDonaldTrump can’t be trusted. Even in light of #PPSellsBabyParts scandal, he still supports funding @PPact. Unbelievable.
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) August 11, 2015
The Planned Parenthood videos have made the consequences of funding the abortion giant clearer than ever. We can’t afford a presidential candidate who isn’t sure what he’ll do about this if elected. If Mr. Trump wants conservative support, he needs to think long and hard about whether he really wants to be “best friends” with Planned Parenthood.
Nick Arnold is a researcher for American Principles in Action.
