The outgoing president of Planned Parenthood claims White House adviser Jared Kushner offered to continue funding the abortion giant if it stopped performing abortions.
In her just-released book, “Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead,” Cecile Richards said she felt “bribed” during the off-the-record meeting with Mr. Kushner and Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s son-in-law and eldest daughter, in February 2017.
“If Planned Parenthood wanted to keep our federal funding, we would have to stop providing abortions,” Ms. Richards recalled the ultimatum.
She said she was put in touch with Ms. Trump by a “friendly acquaintance in the fashion industry,” but it quickly became clear that “Jared and Ivanka were there for one reason: to deliver a political win.”
“In their eyes, if they could stop Planned Parenthood from providing abortions, it would confirm their reputation as savvy dealmakers,” she wrote. “It was surreal, essentially being asked to barter away women’s rights for more money.”
Ms. Richards will step down later this year as Planned Parenthood’s president. She has headed the abortion giant since 2006.
Her account of the meeting comports with reports in March 2017 that the Trump administration informally offered to continue or increase Planned Parenthood’s federal funding if it stopped performing abortions.
Planned Parenthood reportedly rejected the deal at the time.
Congress passed and Mr. Trump signed legislation in April 2017 allowing states to direct Title X dollars, which are earmarked for family planning services, to federally licensed women’s health clinics that do not perform abortions.
The regulation overturned an Obama-era order that barred states from taking abortion into account in the allocation of those dollars.
Planned Parenthood receives approximately $500 million in federal funding every year, mostly from Medicaid reimbursements. Under the spending bill passed by Congress and signed by Mr. Trump last month, the nation’s largest abortion provider remains eligible for federal grants and contracts.
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