Obama Promotes Planned Parenthood Funding in Debate

Planned Parenthood was among President Obama's buzzwords during the second presidential debate Oct. 16 as he mentioned the nation's largest abortion provider five times, using it to distinguish himself from Republican candidate Mitt Romney, Baptist Press reports. In discussions about tax cuts, workplace inequalities, differences between Romney and George W. Bush, and earning votes for reelection, Obama underscored Romney's pledge to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood, in the last statistics available, received $487.4 million in government funds in 2009-10 and performed 329,445 abortions in 2010. In this election season, Obama launched a television ad campaign that made his pro-choice views a major theme; no previous Democratic nominee has ever made abortion a major general election theme in TV ads.