Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, stood up Wednesday for Planned Parenthood by declaring that its affiliates provide mammograms, a claim that has been repeatedly debunked.
At a Fox News town hall, Ms. Klobuchar took the Trump administration to task for attempting to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood for America, the nation’s largest abortion provider, pointing to the other services it offers.
“In their lifetime, one in five women go there,” she said. “And most of them are going there for contraception, birth control, they’re going there for mammograms, they’re going there for cancer screenings, and yet over and over again, this president has tried to cut that funding for Planned Parenthood.”
As pro-life groups have been quick to point out, PPFA affiliates provide breast exams and “mammogram referrals,” as the Planned Parenthood website says, but not mammography.
Ms. Klobuchar, a 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, is hardly the first Democrat to make that claim. During his 2012 reelection bid, President Barack Obama was fact-checked after saying at least twice on the campaign trail that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms.
“Women can’t walk into a Planned Parenthood clinic and get a mammogram on the spot,” said FactCheck.org in a 2012 post. “The clinics don’t have mammography equipment.”
@marthamaccallum Come on Martha . Planned Parenthood NEVER did a mammogram. Why did you let Klobachar get away with that one?
— vicki crist (@viccrist) May 8, 2019
Health care decisions should be between patients and their doctors. Period. #KlobucharTownHall
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) May 8, 2019
Ms. Klobuchar, who is pro-choice. was peppered with questions about her opposition to restrictions on abortion. Asked about late-term abortions, she said “there are limits” on the availability of such procedures.
“Of course, there are limits there in the third trimester that are very important about, except for the health of the woman, and there are some limits there,” she said. “But I think overall, what we want to do is make sure women have the right—right?—to make their own decisions.”
She said that U.S. abortions are on the decline because birth control has become more available.
“So when this president goes … against Planned Parenthood, that to me is a major problem,” Ms. Klobuchar said.
In its February Title X final rule, the Health and Human Services Department updated its regulations to require “clear financial and physical separation” between Title X-funded services and abortion facilities, and prohibit abortion referrals for family planning, prompting a 22-state lawsuit.
The department also shifted funding from some Planned Parenthood affiliates to community clinics that do not offer abortion, including the pro-life Obria Group of California.
Despite her pro-choice stance, Ms. Klobuchar said she has many pro-life supporters.
“First of all, I have many people that I know who are pro-life that have supported me,” she said. “I think the way I talk to them about this is they have their own view on this, and a lot of them have decided that’s my view.”
She added, “That doesn’t mean I have to apply it to everyone else.”
The town hall was hosted by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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