Rand Paul: Give Planned Parenthood Funds to Community Health Centers

The presidential candidate joints call to defund the organization but not to shut down government.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) does a live interview with FOX News in the Russell Senate Office Building rotunda on Capitol Hill June 1, 2015 in Washington, DC.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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By Ali Elkin

August 2, 2015 at 5:02 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul on Sunday said Planned Parenthood funding should be redirected toward community health centers, weighing in on a growing controversy over the women's health care network and the abortion services it offers.

"We have 9,000 community health centers that do everything that Planned Parenthood does does, but they don't get into abortions, so it'd be much less emotional for everyone if we just funded community health centers," Paul said, appearing on CNN's State of the Union. The Kentucky senator, who will attempt to get a vote on defunding Planned Parenthood this week, is touting his effort in a new presidential campaign ad.