January 11, 2016

Chris Christie Was for Planned Parenthood Before He Was Against It

In 1994, he said he donated to the group. In 2016, he said he didn’t.


In a taped interview with Face the Nation‘s John Dickerson that aired Sunday, New Jersey governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie flatly denied that he had ever donated money to Planned Parenthood, as his rival Marco Rubio had asserted. Christie has repeatedly attacked the reproductive health organization, and as governor he cut the state’s entire $7.5 million family planning budget. Christie has repeatedly tried to position himself as someone who has never supported Planned Parenthood. 

The only problem is that Christie has supported Planned Parenthood. Christie was quoted in a 1994 interview in the Newark Star-Ledger as not only backing a woman’s right to an abortion, but donating money to Planned Parenthood.

“I support Planned Parenthood privately with my personal contribution and that should be the goal of any such agency, to find private donations,” Christie said. “It’s also no secret that I am pro-choice.”

This is not the first time that the New Jersey governor has attempted to revise history. Last June, Christie claimed that no new gun control legislation had been passed since he took over as governor. This too is false. 

It’s not hard to see why Christie, facing an array of conservative opponents, would feel the need to amend his track record on guns and reproductive rights. But lying about details that are so easily searchable on the internet might not be the best way to go about it.

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