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Fox News’ Tucker Carlson grilled Planned Parenthood Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens about abortion during his program Monday evening.
Planned Parenthood recently rejected a Trump administration funding deal that would have allowed them to continue receiving federal funds if they stopped performing abortions. The organization promptly rejected the deal as “obscene and insulting” after it was reported by the New York Times. The Times noted that the deal was never formally offered.
Carlson asked Laguens why “abortion is so important to Planned Parenthood that you’re willing to forgo half a billion dollars a year in federal subsidies?”
Laguens replied that “no one is going to bully, threaten or bribe” Planned Parenthood into stopping any of its services. She said Planned Parenthood gets reimbursed by the government for preventative services provided to Medicaid patients.
“We don’t get a big check. We get reimbursed like any hospital for providing a pap test or a breast cancer screening,” she said.
Carlson continued to press Laguens, asking her why Planned Parenthood won’t cease to provide abortions so it can continue providing preventative services.
“Women deserve access to the full range of reproductive health care and that includes safe, legal abortion,” she said.
Carlson noted that Planned Parenthood performs over 300,000 abortions annually, most of which are performed after five-and-a-half weeks gestation, which is when a fetal heartbeat can be detected.