Group
urges Republican candidates to defund Planned Parenthood
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[September 09, 2015]
By Ginger Gibson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An influential
conservative group is calling on Republican presidential candidates to
vow they will veto any future funding for women's healthcare provider
Planned Parenthood, which is under fire from abortion opponents.
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In a letter seen by Reuters that is being sent to all party
hopefuls in the 2016 White House race, the ForAmerica advocacy group
asks candidates to make "a firm commitment" to starve Planned
Parenthood of federal funding.
ForAmerica Chairman Brent Bozell - who has personally endorsed
Republican Senator Ted Cruz for 2016 - also calls on the candidates
to say whether they would launch an investigation by the Department
of Justice into Planned Parenthood.
ForAmerica boasts a 7.7 million-member online presence, which in the
past it has mobilized to bombard Republican congressional leadership
with phone calls and emails to promote conservative positions.
Republicans have turned their sights on Planned Parenthood again
since an anti-abortion group began posting a series of secretly
recorded videos online. The center says the tapes show
Planned Parenthood engaged in illegal sales of fetal tissue.
Planned Parenthood counters that the videos were distorted and says
that it did nothing wrong.
The effort by ForAmerica comes as a fight is brewing in Congress
over Planned Parenthood that risks another government shutdown.
Cruz is threatening to block a spending bill if Planned Parenthood
is not barred from receiving the $500 million in government funds it
gets every year.
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Having the rest of the 2016 Republican field on board would give
Cruz more ammunition to push his fight against Planned Parenthood,
even though the Republican leadership in Congress is wary of
engaging in another high-profile battle that could fuel criticism
their party is anti-women.
“We need a firm commitment from you so that voters may identify you
as a pro-life man of your word, and expose fellow candidates who are
giving lip service to this issue but intend to put this on the
backburner if elected,” Bozell writes in the letter addressed to
front-runner Donald Trump.
(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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