Planned Parenthood Releases Statement Praising…Donald Trump?

Planned Parenthood responded to a statement made by Donald Trump, but without striking the tone one might expect from two opposing sides on the issue of abortion.

In fact, the nation's largest abortion provider released a statement praising the Republican presidential candidate, who is anti-abortion.

"Donald Trump seems to have realized that banning all abortions, shutting down the government, and defunding Planned Parenthood are extreme positions that are way too far outside the mainstream for even him to take," the embattled health clinic organization said Tuesday afternoon, according to the Daily Beast. "We hope that the rest of the GOP field will wake up and reconsider their extreme and unpopular positions on defunding preventive care, abortion bans and the other economic issues that women and their families care about."

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The statement came in response to remarks Trump made to CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day" Tuesday morning, in which the billionaire real estate mogul took the opposite stance from that of his GOP primary opponents.

"The biggest problem I have with Planned Parenthood is the abortion situation. I mean, it's like an abortion factory, frankly, and you can't have it and you just shouldn't be funding it. That should not be funded by the government. That's my biggest problem with Planned Parenthood because, really, if you look at it and you look at the word they do, it has become so heavily centered on abortion, and you can't have that," Trump said.

But Trump, who has publicly shifted his abortion views, added that the nationwide collection of health clinics also performs services he has no problem possibly getting behind.

"I would look at the good aspects of it and I'm sure they do some things properly and good, and good for women, and I would look at that. I'd look at other aspects also," he continued. "But we have to take care of women. We have to absolutely take care of women."

Trump's position on government funding of Planned Parenthood is virtually the opposite of his Republican rivals, who, as Cuomo pointed out, say the organization should first be defunded and then looked at.

Watch more of Trump's interview with CNN below:

(H/T: Mediaite)

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