JD Vance over the weekend admitted that Donald Trump would stop federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
The Republican vice presidential nominee told a reporter on Saturday that “we don’t think that taxpayers should fund late-term abortions.
“That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time around; it will remain a consistent view,” Vance said to RealClearPolitics.
Vance’s remarks fly in the face of how other Republicans, including Trump, have tried to present more moderate views on abortion. Last week, Trump claimed that he would veto a national abortion ban. Republicans have experienced loss after loss as anti-abortion ballot initiatives fail at the state level in red states like Ohio, Kentucky, and Montana.
Planned Parenthood itself provides many vital services outside of abortion, from preventative screenings for sexually transmitted diseases and cancer to birth control. The organization depends on government reimbursements and grants for 34 percent of its revenue, according to its 2023 annual report. These include Medicaid as well as other federal grants and programs.
Republicans have been trying to end public funding for Planned Parenthood for a long time but have only succeeded in a handful of states, most recently Missouri. It’s something they’ve been trying but failing to do at the federal level.
The former president has been all over the place on abortion rights. In the past, he’s also called for regulation of the procedure to be left to the states, said that a “six-week [ban] is too short,” and struggled to make sense when speaking about the abortion pill mifepristone. Trump’s position on abortion, though he attempts to obfuscate it, is opposing reproductive rights. He’s appointed Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, he’s courted the religious right, and he depends on the support of conservatives. Over the weekend, Vance finally said in clear terms what Trump intentionally tries to hide.
