Sen. Bernie Sanders said in tonight’s Democratic presidential forum on CNN that Planned Parenthood does “a fantastic job” and the government “should expand” its funding. Sanders also boasted he has a “100 percent pro-choice voting record.”
Here’s the exchange he had with a voter, Alexis Kulash:
KULASH: Senator, you named Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign as part of the political establishment you plan to take on. How are you going to fight for women’s rights, more effectively than a female candidate with endorsements from organizations like that.
SANDERS: That’s not quite accurate. I have a 100 percent pro-choice voting record. In every speech that I give, what I say is, not only do we stop the Republican efforts to try to defund Planned Parenthood, we should expand funding for Planned Parenthood. Now what I said, what I said on a television program, and I did not say it well, is that sometimes the base of an organization looks at the world a little bit differently than the leadership. So if you have 100 percent pro-Planned Parenthood voting record, 100 percent pro-choice voting record, people are asking, ‘Why is the leadership not either supporting Bernie Sanders or why are they, you know, opposing him?’ And my point is, that I will — these are great organizations. I met with Planned Parenthood. They do a fantastic job, not only in defending women’s rights in general, but talking about sexuality in America. They are a fantastic organization. Count me in as someone who strongly supports them. So this was simply a question of endorsement policy, not whether or not I strongly support these organizations. Do I have your vote yet?