Donald Trump said on Tuesday night that he never backed Planned Parenthood, despite statements he made in August suggesting that he would not push to defund the organization.
During an interview on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor,” host Bill O’Reilly asked Trump why he supports Planned Parenthood and does not want to cut off federal funding for the group.
“I’m not supporting Planned Parenthood,” Trump responded, adding that he would cut off federal funding for the organization.
“I don’t know where you got this information, I never said that,” Trump continued.
O’Reilly said, “That was the report.”
“You read a wrong report, Bill. You have bad researchers, what can I tell you,” Trump told O’Reilly. “A lot of people say it’s an abortion clinic. I’m opposed to that. And I wouldn’t do any funding as long as they are performing abortions. And they are performing abortions. So I would be opposed to funding. I would be totally opposed to funding.”
Yet during two interviews at the beginning of August, Trump seemed open to continuing federal funding for Planned Parenthood. In an interview with CNN, he said he would want to take another look at the services provided by Planned Parenthood before eliminating funding. During that interview he also backed exceptions from abortion bans for cases of rape and incest, as well when it’s necessary to save the life of the mother.
He then defended those comments to Fox News’ Sean Hannity. He said that while he opposes abortion, politicians need to “look at the positives, also, for Planned Parenthood.”
“Maybe unless they stop with the abortions, we don’t do the funding for the stuff that we want,” Trump said. “There are many ways you can do that, because I’m totally against the abortion aspect at Planned Parenthood, but I’ve had many women, I’ve had many Republican conservative women come up and say Planned Parenthood serves a good function other than that one aspect.”
During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” a few days later, Trump walked back his comments slightly. He said that clinics should not provide abortions, but he did not indicate support for congressional Republicans’ push to shut down the government over Planned Parenthood funding.
Watch Trump’s interview below via Fox News. O’Reilly asks about Planned Parenthood at the 6 minute mark.
