After what was supposed to be a routine speech with religious conservatives, Jeb Bush is now on the defensive, claiming that he “misspoke” when talking about a particularly hot-button issue.
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Speaking on Tuesday to the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tenn., Bush, who is participating in the main GOP debate Thursday, argued the next president needs to decrease federal healthcare funding.
Jeb Bush took an off-handed jab at women’s health funding and quickly found himself in the middle of a culture clash with Hillary Clinton.
Emily’s List, a group dedicated to electing pro-choice, Democratic women, highlighted the millions of men and women who visit Planned Parenthood annually, and the nonabortion services the organization provides, such as breast cancer screening and testing for sexually transmitted diseases. “But abortions should not be funded by the government – any government, in my mind”.
Planned Parenthood has recently come under fire for a series of viral videos that allegedly showed the organization’s employees discussing the sale of fetal tissue and organs.
That’s how Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), describes the plan outlined on Monday by the former Florida governor, who said his six-point strategy will bolster security at the nation’s border and overhaul its immigration laws. “Now, he has got no problem giving billions of dollars away to super-wealthy and powerful corporations, but I guess women’s health just isn’t a priority for him“. In his defense, Bush said that there are innumerable community health centers, a number of women’s health organizations and rural clinics, which require to be completely funded. “If this feels like a full-on assault on women’s health, that’s because it is”.
Abstinence-only education, of course, is notoriously ineffective, and is a ridiculous substitute for actual investment in women’s health care.
The comment elicited responses from women’s rights advocates and Twitter users, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Clinton fired back as a part of her speech in Denver – also on Tuesday – which makes it a notable mark of her campaign to take shots at Bush.
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“With regards to women’s health funding broadly, I misspoke”, Bush said in a statement released minutes after he left the stage. When you attack women’s health, you attack America’s health. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) appeared via satellite at a the Voters First Forum after voting to defund the organization, which receives a large chunk of its money from the federal government.
