Lincoln Chafee
Addressing the Democratic National Committee in 2012, Chafee said, “Believing in freedom, we believe a woman should make her own reproductive decisions.” On his official 2016 website, the statement “I strongly support a woman’s right to make her own personal reproductive decisions” is written in the Protection of Personal Liberties section.
Chafee voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. He was still a Republican at the time.
In 2008, Chafee joined the NARAL Pro-Choice America board of directors.
In a 2006 Rhode Island senate debate, when asked about the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned, Chafee said, “I have consistently voted against any federal attempt to ban women’s reproductive freedom and choices. If it’s left to the states, then only wealthy women will have access to abortions, if they have the resources to travel, whereas poor women would have to resort to the old days of difficult decisions.”
Hillary Clinton
Shortly after the controversial Planned Parenthood videos surfaced earlier this year, Clinton came to the organization’s defense at a campaign event in South Carolina (even as she criticized the tone of the footage.) “It’s really an attack against a woman’s right to choose, to make the most personal difficult decisions that any woman would face based on her faith and the medical advice that she’s given,” she said of calls to defund Planned Parenthood. “I’m hoping that this situation will not further undermine the very important services that Planned Parenthood provides across our country.”
Clinton’s campaign soon released a video characterizing the calls to defund Planned Parenthood as “full-on assault on women’s health,” specifically attacking Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, and Rick Perry.
After Marco Rubio said he supports an abortion ban without exceptions during the Fox News GOP debate, Clinton responded by calling his position “as offensive and as troubling a comment as you can hear from a major candidate running for the presidency.”
After the House passed a bill earlier this year banning abortion after 20 weeks, Clinton tweeted, “When it comes to women’s health, there are two kinds of experts: women and their doctors. True 40+ years ago, true today.”
Martin O'Malley
In 2002, when O’Malley was considered a possible Maryland gubernatorial candidate, officials at Planned Parenthood sent him 175 letters asking him to publicly state his position on abortion. He criticized the method but said through a spokesman that he is “pro-choice” and believes abortions should be “safe, legal and rare.”
Twelve years later, as governor, O’Malley received an award from Planned Parenthood of Maryland for his “outstanding leadership in protecting and advancing reproductive rights.” The Babies Born Healthy Initiative, implemented during his tenure, drove infant mortality rates down 21 percent during 2008-2014 by promoting services such as substance abuse treatment and domestic violence prevention before, during and after pregnancy.
Bernie Sanders
Sanders was the first 2016 Democratic candidate to address the Planned Parenthood videos, saying “the tone was terribly wrong.”
After Senate Republicans attempted to defund the organization, Sanders released a statement saying, “The current attempt to discredit Planned Parenthood is part of a long-term smear campaign by people who want to deny women in this country the right to control their own bodies.”
On a radio program earlier this summer, Sanders said while he understood opposition to abortion, he believes “it is a woman’s decision … it’s a difficult decision, but it’s a decision between her and her physician.”
Jim Webb
A 2006 Wall Street Journal article chronicling Webb’s Senate campaign said he “backs abortion rights as defined by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade.” Webb himself was quoting as saying, “I believe the power of the government ends at my front door unless there is a compelling reason to come inside.”
During his time in the Senate, Webb voted against a bill prohibiting minors to cross state lines to have an abortion and voted against a bill barring U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grants from going to organizations that provide abortion services. Although he has not spoken publicly about the Planned Parenthood videos, he also previously voted for a bill to expand research utilizing embryonic stem cells.
Jeb Bush
When asked about defunding Planned Parenthood at a Southern Baptist Convention event, Bush said, “I’m not sure we need half a billion dollars for women’s health issues,” suggesting organizations providing services for women are overfunded. Afterward, he released a statement saying he “misspoke” and instead was referring specifically to Planned Parenthood, whose funds he believed should be redirected elsewhere.
At the recent GOP debate broadcast on Fox News, Bush said, “As governor of Florida, I defunded Planned Parenthood. I created a culture of life in our state.” NPR reported that Bush reduced state funding and forced closure of some of the clinics, but some are still operating and collecting state and federal money.
Ben Carson
Carson, a neurosurgeon, told Fox News in cases of rape or incest (would-be exceptions to an abortion ban) he would hope victims seek emergency contraception immediately rather than wait and have an abortion. In the same interview, he said Margaret Sanger (the founder of Planned Parenthood) was “not particularly enamored with black people” and that most of the organization’s clinics are located in predominantly black neighborhoods as a way to “control that population.”
Previously, Carson told CNN that Planned Parenthood “doesn’t seem to understand the sanctity of human life and is willing to destroy that.”
In the same interview, Carson said using fetal tissue for research is unnecessary. However, it has since come to light that Carson used aborted fetal tissue in his own research in 1992. Carson said the research is not contradictory to his pro-life views because he had no hand performing the abortions that allowed him to obtain the tissue.
It also has been reported that Carson referred patients carrying fetuses with defects to doctors who performed abortions. A spokesman for Carson said, “He believes in quality medical care, number one, and secondly, he believes in people making their own decisions based on facts and information. … He has always believed that the battle over abortion has to be waged in the hearts and minds of Americans, that you cannot legislate morality.”
Chris Christie
In 2010 (his first year as governor), Christie cut $7.5 million for women’s health centers (including some Planned Parenthood clinics), claiming it was necessary because of the state’s budget crisis. Later he boasted to conservative groups of vetoing the funding, which many viewed as a reversal of his previous assertion that the decision was strictly economic.
Today, Christie says he would push for similar defunding measures at the federal level if elected president. In response to Hillary Clinton’s video supporting Planned Parenthood, Christie released his own video, accusing Planned Parenthood of “the killing of children in the womb in a way that maximizes their body parts for sale on the open market.”
Christie was pro-choice earlier in his career, even announcing in campaign speeches in the mid-’90s that he had donated to Planned Parenthood. He often cites hearing his oldest daughter’s heartbeat during a prenatal checkup as the transformative moment that convinced him to adopt a pro-life position.
Ted Cruz
Cruz called Planned Parenthood a “criminal enterprise” after the controversial videos leaked. He voted to defund the organization in the Senate in July — but later called it a “legislative show vote.” He has publicly urged a government shutdown, if necessary, to avoid funding Planned Parenthood federally — the same strategy he attempted to use to defund Obamacare in 2013.
In July, Cruz urged the Department of Justice to investigate Planned Parenthood when he joined pro-life protesters outside the U.S. Capitol.
Cruz called the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would prevent states from implementing restrictions such as mandated waiting periods and ultrasounds, the “manifestation of a war on women.” Cruz’s home state of Texas previously passed a set of restrictive laws that are expected to cause all but six of the state’s abortion clinics to close.
In 2013, Cruz noted the “dark anniversary” of Roe v. Wade and has supported banning partial-birth abortions and taxpayer funding of abortions.
Carly Fiorina
Speaking at the Iowa State Fair, Fiorina explicitly said she is pro-life and that “Planned Parenthood must be defunded.” In the same speech, she accused the organization of targeting poor, African-American and Hispanic women and of pressuring them into later-term abortions in order to optimally harvest fetal tissue.
On CNN, Fiorina said her position is “clear” and “consistent” since she ran for the California Senate in 2010, and she does support exceptions to abortion bans.
Jim Gilmore
In a 2007 GOP primary debate, Gilmore said he believes abortion should be legal in the first eight to 12 weeks of pregnancy but also cited his pro-life record as governor, which included passing a 24-hour waiting period, parental notification and banning partial-birth abortions.
Lindsey Graham
In June, Graham reintroduced the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act to the Senate, which would ban abortion after 20 weeks of gestation without exception. “Why do we want to let this happen five months into the pregnancy?” said Graham at the time. “I am dying for that debate. I’m going to quite frankly insist that we have that debate.” He said the abortion debate was no longer “academic,” saying, “America is thinking about that baby.”
However, Graham did not attend the Senate vote to withhold funding from Planned Parenthood, opting instead to campaign. He also rejected the notion that the government should shut down in order to withhold funding, citing national security concerns.
During the Fox News debate, Graham rejected the notion that attempts to defund Planned Parenthood are part of the war on women, saying, “The only way we’re going to defund Planned Parenthood is to have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Mike Huckabee
Huckabee supports an abortion ban without exception. He has said that he agrees with Paraguay’s denial of an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim, saying, “Let’s not compound a tragedy by taking yet another life.”
In an op-ed for Fox News last month, Huckabee said abortion in America must end altogether, calling it “infanticide” and comparing it to slavery. “We didn’t end slavery by just making slave ownership ‘legal and rare,’” he wrote.
After the Planned Parenthood videos surfaced, Huckabee has been vocal about his support for defunding the organization, and even has even said that as president, he “would have a Justice Department that would begin to criminally prosecute Planned Parenthood for violating federal law and selling body parts.”
Bobby Jindal
Jindal ended Louisiana’s Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood after the videos came to light, despite the fact that neither of the two clinics in the state provide abortions. At the time, time, Jindal said the organization showed “a fundamental disrespect for human life.” He also ordered an investigation to be carried out by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and halted the opening of a clinic planned for New Orleans.
Jindal touts his pro-life record as governor on his website, where he draws attention to legislation he signed in 2014 “requiring physicians to perform an ultrasound, to describe the images generated by the ultrasound to the mother, and to provide each mother the opportunity to view the ultrasound of her baby and to hear its fetal heartbeat prior to undergoing an abortion.”
John Kasich
In an interview with CNN, Kasich said he is pro-life but has always been in favor of exceptions to an abortion ban in the cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. He also said Republicans focus too much on abortion as their “one social issue,” especially since the SCOTUS marriage-equality ruling.
George Pataki
Pataki is considered one of the more liberal GOP candidates on abortion. At the Fox News debate, he said he has “always been appalled by abortion.” However, he told the Daily Caller he is not interested in overturning Roe v. Wade, calling it “the law of the land.” In the same interview, he admitted he understands why his stance may be confusing and said the Planned Parenthood videos “show a hideous disrespect for life.”
Pataki ran into similar problems when he was running for governor in the 1990s. At the time, he tried to appeal to the left by characterizing himself as pro-choice but also touted his support for blocking government financing of abortions and requiring minors to notify their parents before receiving abortions. In 2013, Pataki said late-term and partial-birth abortions should be rejected by the New York legislature.
Rand Paul
Paul, an ophthalmologist, is in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood. He said in an interview the only reason for the organization to exist is to perform abortions, and their other services can and should be provided by community health clinics. He voted to defund the organization in the Senate in July.
While Paul calls himself “100 percent pro-life,” he thinks abortion should be a state rather than a federal issue. In April, he sidestepped questions about whether his beliefs on banning abortion would allow for exceptions, saying, “I’ve supported both bills with and without (exceptions). … I will support legislation that advances and shows that life is special and deserves protection.”
Rick Perry
In 2013, Perry signed a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks. At the time, Perry said, “In signing House Bill 2, we celebrate and further cement the foundation on which the culture of life in Texas is built.”
In response to the Planned Parenthood videos, Perry told ABC that the organization is acting outside “the bounds of humanity” and “our criminal laws.” On MSNBC, he conceded that some of the organization’s services, such as cancer screenings, are valuable for women, but urged people to “look at the overall picture of what they do.”
Marc Rubio
Rubio garnered significant backlash when, during the Fox News debate, he said he does not support any exceptions on an abortion ban. He conceded he had supported bills with exceptions but said, “I believe a human being is entitled to life, irrespective of the circumstances in which that human being was conceived and so forth.” When asked to clarify his stance on CNN, he said, “I personally believe that you do not correct one tragedy with a second tragedy.” He went on to argue that it is a scientific fact that life begins at conception.
In response to the uproar about the killing of Cecil the lion, Rubio tweeted, “Look at all this outrage over a dead lion, but where is all the outrage over the Planned Parenthood dead babies.” In July, Rubio voted to defund Planned Parenthood in the Senate.
Rick Santorum
Santorum has argued that Planned Parenthood should be defunded because it’s inherently racist, having been founded by Margaret Sanger, a believer in eugenics. He has said that the organization is partaking in “barbaric” activity and is “dehumanizing the child in the womb.” This has been a recurring criticism of Santorum’s. In 2011, he told reporters the organization had “poisonous” roots as a device to cleanse society.
Santorum often says that he was the lead sponsor of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in November of that year. The law prohibits partial-birth abortions except to save the life of the mother. Like some of his Republican colleagues, Santorum has said that “one violence is enough” in defense of his belief that fetuses conceived in rape should not be aborted.
Donald Trump
Trump has said he is pro-life with exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother.
Trump has broken with some of his Republican competitors on whether to defund Planned Parenthood. He has pointed out that abortions are a small percentage of the organization’s services and that while he is against funding those services, “a lot of women are helped” by the clinics. This was a departure from his previous assertion that the government should be shut down in order to defund the organization.
Scott Walker
In July, Walker signed a law outlawing abortions in Wisconsin after 20 weeks unless the mother’s life is endangered. At the time, he said he believed the legislation was necessary because five months into gestation is “the time when that unborn child can feel pain.” Before he signed it, he responded to criticism of the no rape or incest exceptions by saying, “I think for most people who are concerned about that, it’s in the initial months when they are most concerned about it.” During the Fox News debate, Walker said he’s “always been pro-life,” which he felt was “consistent” with the views of Americans in general.
Walker also signed a budget defunding Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin in 2011. Since then, at least five Planned Parenthoods in Wisconsin have closed. He has called on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood at the federal level “to ensure that no taxpayer money goes to fund these kind of vile acts.”
Democratic Debate Schedule
January 17, 2016 (NBC)
February or March, 2016 (Univision)
February or March, 2016 (PBS)
Republican Debate Schedule
January 14, 2016 (Fox News Channel)
February 6, 2016 (ABC)
February 13, 2016 (CBS)
February 26, 2016 (NBC and Telemundo)
March 10, 2016 (CNN)
March, 2016 (Fox News)