Republican presidential candidate and former Texas Governor Rick Perry stated that there are more ways to get things done other than a government shutdown during a discussion of Planned Parenthood on Tuesday’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast” on the Fox Business Network.
“We’ve expanded the healthcare for women in the state of Texas through multiple ways. One of which is we’ve passed the most sweeping tort reform in the nation in 2003 that exploded access to healthcare. If you were a pregnant female along the Rio Grande, you had to leave your county to get that prenatal care, no longer is that the case. We did stop funding for Planned Parenthood. And actually, I, after seeing those videos, I think people, whether they’re pro choice or not, should be offended greatly to what they’re seeing out of those videos. As a matter of fact, I called for the nonprofit status of Planned Parenthood to be pulled.”
Perry responded to attacks by Democrats that GOP opposition to Planned Parenthood is just an attack on women with, “it’s just not true. It’s how they try to deflect off of — these videos are not defensible. When you look and see what Planned Parenthood has been up to for all of these many years, it’s one of the reasons that we pulled the funding of Planned Parenthood in the state of Texas, we realized what was going on some years ago. We are for expanding healthcare for women, as I said, we did that in the state of Texas. It can happen in those states, but it’s not the federal government’s responsibility to be funding that type of activity at all.”
Asked whether he would shut the government down to defund Planned Parenthood, Perry responded, “Well, I think this is what’s wrong with Washington DC, that they can’t find a way to work together, this idea that you’ve got to shut government down is really outside the realm of what people outside of Washington believe. We didn’t shut government down in the state of Texas. We worked together to find solutions, and I think that’s what they need to do in Washington DC”
Perry concluded the abortion discussion by stating that arguments that “if the other side refuses to see what’s at stake, it is worth putting the running of government itself at stake” are “the same kind of false narrative that you had in the Iranian negotiation, it’s either sign this negotiation or we go to war. There are a lot more ways to get things done than standing up, and taking a stand, and saying, ‘We’re going to shut government down.’ Find a way to make government work. I think that’s what Americans are looking for, whether it’s dealing with the defunding of Planned Parenthood, or whether it’s the funding of our military.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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