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Until shortly before announcing his presidential candidacy, former Florida governor Jeb Bush was a director for a charity that gave tens of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood.
Life Site News reports: “In 2010, Jeb was named one of the founding directors of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, established as a tax-exempt foundation to advance the vision of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.”
That foundation announced a major partnership with Planned Parenthood-Global to train and equip abortion activists in pro-life countries, to the tune of $50 million:
In 2014, we started supporting local nonprofit organizations in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Uganda, and Nicaragua to advocate for better policies in their countries that will expand access to comprehensive reproductive health services. These organizations will receive technical assistance from Planned Parenthood Federation of America – Global Division to help augment their capacity for effective advocacy.
The former New York mayor laid out how the partnership would work when he received Planned Parenthood’s Global Citizen Award at its annual gala in March 2014.
“I am happy to say our major partner in this project will be Planned Parenthood – Global,” Bloomberg said. “In some countries, our funding will help advocates work towards better sexual health policies for teens and better access to contraceptives. In others, we’ll help push for less restrictive abortion laws and more government funding for high-quality, accessible services.”
When asked if Jeb Bush supported these foundation initiatives, spokeswoman Kristy Campbell told the Tampa Bay Times: “Governor Bush was honored to serve on the board of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which does a lot of good work across the world. Governor Bush and Mayor Bloomberg have great mutual respect for one another. While they disagree on several policy issues, both share a passion for improving education in America.” Both Bloomberg and Bush are strong advocates for Common Core.
“As a board member, Governor Bush did not vote on or approve individual projects or programs,” Campbell said to the Times.
Stephen Phelan, director of mission communications at Human Life International, told Life Site News: “Bush’s people are probably right that as a board member he did not vote on every project.
“But Bloomberg has been so open about his foundation’s goals for so long that it really stretches credibility to say that Bush or his people wouldn’t have known that the foundation pushes abortion and other population-control efforts,” he said.
Bloomberg–the former Democrat, turned Republican (as he sought to succeed Rudy Giuliani in 2001), turned Independent–made clear his top priority policy goals when accepting Planned Parenthood’s Global Citizen Award. “You can’t fight every battle,” he said. “The things that are high on my priority list are sensible gun laws…I obviously care about a woman’s right to choose…Nobody’s a bigger supporter of gay rights.” He added that “we need a good immigration bill” including amnesty for an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.
“Bloomberg has described abortion as a ‘fundamental human right,’ elevating it to a make-or-break position. ‘On this issue, you’re either with us or against us.’ He once cited abortion among his reasons for endorsing Barack Obama in 2012,” according to Life Site News.
The Daily Caller reached out to Jeb Bush’s campaign for a response to the Life Site News story. The campaign responded by email with the following statement:
Governor Bush’s strong record of fostering a culture of life is clear, and he has called on Congress to investigate and defund Planned Parenthood in light of the recent alarming revelations about its practices. During his eight years in office, Governor Bush took measures to protect innocent life by passing a partial-birth abortion ban, fighting for a constitutional amendment requiring parental notifications and doing everything possible to promote adoption.This post originally appeared on Western Journalism – Equipping You With The Truth
As a board member of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Governor Bush did not vote on or approve individual projects or programs. Governor Bush and Mayor Bloomberg disagree on several policy areas, including Planned Parenthood. They do share a passion for reforming education, which was Governor Bush’s focus on the board.
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