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Jeb: I Didn't Mean to Say $500M Too Much for Women's Health
Wednesday, August 5, 2015 08:12 AM
By: Melissa Clyne
Hillary Clinton and Democrats are attacking Jeb Bush for his remarks at the Southern Baptist Forum, where he questioned the amount of federal funding allocated for women’s health issues, a statement the former Florida governor later clarified.
At the forum, the Republican presidential contender said: "You could take dollar for dollar — although I’m not sure we need half a billion dollars for women’s health issues — but if you took dollar for dollar, there are many extraordinarily fine community health organizations that exist to provide quality care for women on a wide variety of health issues."
After an uproar from the left, Bush, according to The Hill, issued a statement that he "misspoke" when addressing the Democratic narrative that defunding Planned Parenthood amounts to a war on women.
"With regards to women’s health funding broadly, I misspoke, as there are countless community health centers, rural clinics, and other women’s health organizations that need to be fully funded," the statement reads. "They provide critical services to all, but particularly low-income women who don’t have the access they need," reads the statement released by his campaign.
Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders took to Twitter and a fundraising email, respectively, to pile on Bush.
Clinton posted:
Hillary Clinton
✔
@HillaryClinton
.@JebBush: You are absolutely, unequivocally wrong.
https://twitter.com/SabrinaSiddiqui/status/628662331254378496 …
4:17 PM - 4 Aug 2015
To which Bush responded:
Hillary Clinton
✔
@HillaryClinton
.@JebBush: You are absolutely, unequivocally wrong.
https://twitter.com/SabrinaSiddiqui/status/628662331254378496 …
Jeb Bush
✔
@JebBush
.@HillaryClinton what’s absolutely, unequivocally wrong is giving taxpayer $ to an org whose practices show no regard for lives of unborn
5:34 PM - 4 Aug 2015
The Associated Press reports that at an event in Denver, Clinton referenced Bush’s statement again, telling the crowd that "he's got no problem giving away billions of dollars to super-powerful and wealthy corporations, but I guess women's health just isn't a priority for him."
Sanders blasted a fundraising email telling supporters that "we need to be spending a lot more money on women's healthcare."
The Democratic National Committee also chimed in, with Kaylie Hanson, director of women’s media, saying that Bush "is sure about one thing — he wants to restrict access to affordable healthcare for women, which isn’t surprising considering his 'shame and blame' playbook.
"This backwards ideology isn’t only the exact opposite of what women need from their next president — it could put the health of millions of women in jeopardy," she said.
Planned Parenthood, which received $528 million from the government in the 2013-14 fiscal year, according to The Washington Post, performs abortions in addition to providing women’s healthcare and other family planning services
Bush said the next president should defund Planned Parenthood, just as he did when he was governor of Florida.
The issue of the organization’s funding has taken on a new life since the release of surreptitiously recorded videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue and body parts.
President Barack Obama has vowed to veto any defunding bills while Bush has taken a firm position to cut funding.
"I don’t remember how many times we’ve had government shutdowns and budgets not passed," he said Tuesday. "If I’m president, we’re going to respect the Constitution — get back to regular order way where democracy works again — where you submit a budget, you work with Congress, you pass a budget and in that budget, there will not be $500 million going to Planned Parenthood."
Planned Parenthood issued a statement saying Bush "told the rest of America what Florida women have known for years, which is that he doesn't believe women's health is worth much."
The organization also disputed Bush’s characterization of "half a billion dollars" as being too much federal money for women’s healthcare.
The $528 million the organization received from taxpayers last year wasn’t all federal money, they said, according to the AP. Some of the funding came from state funds that help finance Medicaid.
Planned Parenthood had an annual revenue of $1.3 billion.
