As conservatives gathered to defend life at the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was the keynote speaker at a nearby Planned Parenthood Action Fund event, where she promised to always defend abortion rights during both her campaign and if elected president.
“I’ve been proud to stand with Planned Parenthood for a long time, and as president, I will always have your back,” she said.
For most of 2015, Planned Parenthood was at the center of a firestorm spurred by an anti-abortion rights activist’s undercover video campaign. Planned Parenthood was forced on the defense from scathing critiques from across the Republican Party, which included the most senior members of Congress.
At the height of that controversy, Clinton gave interviews calling for even more funding for the group.
While she never specifically mentioned the scandal, she acknowledged it indirectly when she said, “I want to start by saying something you don’t hear often enough: Thank you.”
She also took swipes at GOP rival Donald Trump, saying his campaign slogan is really about taking women and the country backward.
“When Donald Trump says ‘Let’s make America great again,’ that is code for let’s take America backward, back to a time when opportunity and dignity were reserved for some” but not all, and when abortion was illegal, women had few options and life for women “was limited,” she said.
“Well, Donald, those days are over,” she said.
Clinton’s attacks on Trump — in her first speech since securing the endorsement of
President Obama on Thursday — continued the same focus on progressive and women’s issues that she emphasized during the primary.
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Furthermore, she warned the audience that if Trump was elected, he’d nominate Supreme Court justices that would overturn Roe v. Wade, defund Planned Parenthood, and attack “so many of the fundamental rights we have, including safe and legal abortion.”
“That’s someone who doesn’t hold women in high regard, because if he did, he would trust women to make the right decisions,” she said. “This is a man who has called women pigs, dogs and disgusting animals,” Clinton added. “Donald Trump has shown us who he is and we sure should believe him,” she said.
Her criticisms weren't limited to Trump, however, as she went after all Republicans as being against women.
“They are for limited government everywhere except when it comes to women’s rights and choices,” she said. “We’re in the middle of a concerted, persistent assault on women’s health across the country,” she added. “Do we want to put our health, our lives and our futures in Donald Trump’s hands?”
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