Jeb Bush: ‘We Defunded Planned Parenthood When I was Governor’

Jeb Bush told those gathered at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, “I’m totally whole-in on the question of life.” Bush said he has a strong pro-life record as governor of Florida, and it is a basic tenet of his faith that all life is from God.

Bush said he respects life from beginning to the end, the unborn and the elderly. He added, “A just and compassionate society must take care of them” and “A culture of life must be maintained.”

In touting his pro-life record in Florida, he said, “We defunded Planned Parenthood when I was Governor.” He also said that Florida was the first state to have a “Choose Life” license plate. Bush added that Florida was the first and maybe the only state, to have state-funded crisis pregnancy centers. The presidential candidate said he got a “lot of grief” over the Terri Schiavo case.

Bush converted to his wife’s religion of Catholicism after he lost his race for governor in 1994. His brother, George W. Bush, won the governor’s race in Texas that year and he took the time to reevaluate his life. Bush lost by less than two percentage points that year.

Bush said that the Catholic concept of subsidiarity provides that problems should be solved from the bottom up. He said his concept of governance is the same and that the federal government should be the last to address problems. He added that under his leadership, problems would be solved locally. He emphasized the importance of strong and loving families to society.

Bush said he believes in shrinking the size of government and quipped that they called him “Veto Corelloni” in Florida. He said he had 2,500 separate vetoes as governor.

Bush told those at the forum, “The world has turned asunder.” He said he believes it is a matter of prayer and giving it to God.

The presidential candidate said he would fight for religious freedom with “all his heart and soul.” He said he believes it is wrong to restrict people who want to feed the needy.

Bush said that Christians are being persecuted in this country as well as all around the world. He said the country needs to help Israel, and asked “But for us, Who?”

Prestonwood Baptist Church partnered with the Faith and Freedom Coalition to hold the “North Texas Presidential Forum.” Democrat and Republican presidential candidates were all invited. The speakers who participated in the event were Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former governors Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina, Dr. Ben Carson, and former senator Rick Santorum.

Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. Follow her on Twitter@LanaShadwick2