Better late than never, President Obama became the first sitting president ever to address a Planned Parenthood event this morning, speaking at the health care group’s national conference, where he received a warm welcome.
Obama is a long-time ally of the organization, and made his support for Planned Parenthood a key issue in his 2012 re-election campaign. With that in mind, the president delivered an unflinching message to the group:
“[N]o matter how great the challenge, no matter how fierce the opposition, if there’s one thing the past few years have shown, it’s that Planned Parenthood is not going anywhere. It’s not going anywhere today. It’s not going anywhere tomorrow.
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“As long as we’ve got to fight to make sure women have access to quality, affordable health care, and as long as we’ve got to fight to protect a woman’s right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you’ve also got a president who’s going to be right there with you fighting every step of the way.”
Reflecting on conservative efforts to undermine Planned Parenthood, Obama added, “[T]here’s nothing conservative about the government injecting itself into decisions best made between a woman and her doctor…. When you read about some of these laws, you want to check the calendar; you want to make sure you’re still living in 2013.”
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