During the primaries, Donald Trump acknowledged that “millions and millions of women … are helped by Planned Parenthood,” but like any good Republican, he stopped short of saying the organization should continue to receive federal funds. “I would defund it because of the abortion factor,” he concluded. His administration has since made it clear that the organization’s federal funding will be on the chopping block, but according to the New York Times, Trump offered Planned Parenthood a chance to keep the $500 million it receives annually — if it stops providing abortions.
Planned Parenthood officials reportedly rejected the informal proposal and pointed out that, per the Hyde Amendment, federal funds don’t actually pay for abortions. “Offering money to Planned Parenthood to abandon our patients and our values is not a deal that we will ever accept,” Dawn Laguens, the executive vice-president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told the Times. “Providing critical health-care services for millions of American women is nonnegotiable.”
Trump confirmed the offer in a statement to the Times. “There is an opportunity for organizations to continue the important work they do in support of women’s health, while not providing abortion services,” he said. But Senator Kirsten Gillibrand suggested Trump only authorized the proposal to mitigate the political fallout from defunding Planned Parenthood, which is widely popular with voters.