Hillary Clinton Uses Planned Parenthood Endorsement Event to Call for Taxpayer Funding of Abortion

Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the advocacy arm of the nation’s largest abortion provider, formally endorsed Hillary Clinton for president on Sunday.

During the event, Clinton called for an end to the Hyde Amendment.

The Hyde Amendment bars the use of federal taxpayer funding for elective abortions. Exceptions are made for victims of rape or incest, or cases where the life of the mother is at risk.

“First of all, I will always defend Planned Parenthood,” Clinton said. “And I will say, consistently and proudly, Planned Parenthood should be funded, supported, and celebrated—not undermined, misrepresented, and demonized. I believe we need to protect access to safe and legal abortion, not just in principle, but in practice. Any right that requires you to take extraordinary measures to access it is no right at all — and not as long as we have laws on the books like the Hyde Amendment making it harder for low-income women to exercise their full rights."

Clinton said that the next president will have the opportunity to appoint several Supreme Court justices, impacting the future of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

“I shudder to think about what the Republicans would do, if given the chance,” Clinton said. “We know any Republican president will accelerate the assault on access to safe and legal abortion. And think about this: The next president could easily appoint more than one justice to the Supreme Court.”

Clinton thanked President Barack Obama for vetoing a bill that would have blocked federal funding for Planned Parenthood and called Republicans “out of touch and out of date.”

“This year, they succeeded in passing a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood. And the only thing, as Cecile said, stopping them from making that the law of the land was President Obama’s veto pen,” Clinton said.

In what was likely a reference to controversial undercover videos of Planned Parenthood executives allegedly discussing the sale of baby parts from aborted fetuses, Clinton said that Republicans live in an “evidence-free zone.”

Clinton vowed to stand with Planned Parenthood should she be elected president.

“Now, when I talk like this, and I do often, Republicans say I’m playing the gender card,” Clinton said. “Well, if fighting for equal pay, paid leave and Planned Parenthood is playing the gender card, deal me in.”

Cecile Richards, president of both Planned Parenthood and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said that no candidate “has done more for women and families.”

“She’s the leader I trust in the White House,” Richards said.

“This election will determine whether Roe v. Wade continues to be the law of the land,” Richards said.

Richards said that the Republican presidential candidates would bring women “back to the stone age.”

Richards said that she hasn’t been so excited to be on the campaign trail since her mother, Ann Richards, announced her run for Texas governor.

Richards’ daughter Lily Adams works as Clinton’s Iowa communications director.

C-SPAN has footage of the event: