Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Wednesday knocked down Whoopi Goldberg’s pro-abortion talking points. Naturally, the whole View segment was dominated by social issues questions. Goldberg grilled, “How will you say to your constituents who may be gay or may find themselves in a position with something like Planned Parenthood, what will you replace it with if you take it away?”
Santorum began by promoting women’s health services that don’t provide abortions. He added, “Planned Parenthood, for example, does not provide mammograms. Now, I know people say they do, but they don’t.” Goldberg broke in, “Yeah, they do.” In fact, they don’t. The Republican corrected:
RICK SANTORUM: In fact, Cecile Richards said yesterday in the hearing that, in fact, they do not. In fact, there are no Planned Parenthoods that provide any mammogram services. They basically provide abortion, contraceptive, STDs, things — and pregnancy tests. That's it. There are much more comprehensive women's health care centers.
Good Morning America journalist and View co-host Paula Faris worried, “if you reallocate all that money away from Planned Parenthood to these clinics, will these clinics then provide abortions or where do you want these displaced women to go?”
On September 22, Goldberg ranted that there’s “nothing in” the Bible ‘about abortion.
A partial transcript of the September 30 segment, which aired at 11:36am ET, is below:
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So, Rick, you're one much the most conservative candidates in the race. You want to ban all abortions, defund Planned Parenthood, ban gay marriage. Oppose same-sex unions. And yet, you want to govern all of the folks in the United States? Or are you just governing from — [ laughter ]
RICK SANTORUM: Well, my response is that people that have a different point of view, would you ask them the same question?
GOLDBERG: Yes. I ask everybody —
SANTORUM: But, I mean — but the point is, if someone has a different point of view, does that mean that they are only going to govern for people who support all those things?
GOLDBERG: That's why I ask.
SANTORUM: The answer is to, of course not.
GOLDBERG: So, how will you say to your constituents who may be gay or may find themselves in a position with something like Planned Parenthood, what will you replace it with if you take it away?
SANTORUM: Well, first off, I’m for reallocating every dollar that goes to Planned Parenthood and put them in women's health centers that actually provide more comprehensive services than Planned Parenthood does. Planned parenthood, for example, doesn't provide mammograms. Now, I know people say they do, but they don’t. In fact —
GOLDBERG: Yeah, they do.
SANTORUM: In fact, Cecile Richards said yesterday in the hearing that, in fact, they do not. In fact, there are no Planned Parenthoods that provide any mammogram services. They basically provide abortion, contraceptive, STDs, things — and pregnancy tests. That's it. There are much more comprehensive women's health care centers. I spend a lot of time in Iowa. And in Iowa, there are 213 women health’s centers. Thirteen Planned Parenthood centers. So, If you said we were going to take the Planned Parenthood money, reallocate it to, actually, clinics that do provide a whole host of other women’s health services, women are probably going to get a more holistic health screening at those places than they would at Planned Parenthood.
PAULA FARIS: So, you’re saying if you reallocate all that money away from Planned Parenthood to these clinics, will these clinics then provide abortions or where do you want these displaced women to go?
SANTORUM: Yeah. Well, there are, obviously, Planned Parenthood is one abortion provider. There are others that provide abortions. Some, it depends on the state. Some, there are very few abortion providers. Some, like in the state of New York, there's a lot of them. So, again, the money that we're reallocating has nothing to do with abortion. I mean, I will accept that. But the money that is going to Planned Parenthood cannot be used for abortion. So, when you reallocate that money away, it shouldn’t effect their ability to provide abortion unless, of course, they are commingling funds. And that’s one of the questions people have.
