Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump offered a 'bribe' to stop abortions
- Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards wrote in her new memoir that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump offered her what she considered a "bribe" to halt abortion services, according to People magazine.
- Richards wrote that Kushner and Trump offered an increase in Planned Parenthood's federal funding if the organization stopped providing abortions.
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards wrote in her new memoir that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump offered her a deal that she said felt like a "bribe" to stop providing abortions, according to People magazine.
Richards, who is stepping down from her post this year, wrote in "Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead" that she met with President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law in January 2017. She said the White House power couple, who are now senior administration aides, offered an increase in Planned Parenthood's federal funding if the organization stopped providing abortions.
"The main issue, he [Kushner] explained, was abortion," the magazine quoted from Richards' memoir. "If Planned Parenthood wanted to keep our federal funding, we would have to stop providing abortions. He described his ideal outcome: a national headline reading 'Planned Parenthood Discontinues Abortion Services.'"
The magazine said Richards wrote that Kushner told her to "move fast." Richards said she declined Kushner's proposal, saying: "It felt almost like a bribe."
Of the more than 900,000 abortions performed in the country every year, a third are done at Planned Parenthood. The organization receives more than $500 million in federal funding for non-abortion services.
Republicans often threaten to cut federal funds for Planned Parenthood. Yet a massive, $1.3 trillion spending bill Trump signed last month, after both GOP-controlled houses of Congress passed it, did not target the organization's funding.
Richards' memoir, "Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead," was released Tuesday and was at No. 7 on Amazon's Best Sellers List on Wednesday morning.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.