Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R., Kent.) on Tuesday demanded Hillary Clinton return the money her campaign has raised from Planned Parenthood.
"Today I call on @HillaryClinton to return money she's raised from Planned Parenthood!" Paul wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning, hours after the Center for Medical Progress unveiled a third video allegedly exposing the federally funded organization’s sale of body parts from aborted fetuses.
Clinton has collected nearly $10,000 from nine individuals who work for Planned Parenthood since the start of her campaign, outpacing all of her Democratic competitors when it comes to raising money from the country’s largest abortion provider.
After the release of a second video showing a Planned Parenthood official negotiating the sale of fetal tissue last week, Clinton defended the organization and labeled the videos an "attack against women’s rights to choose."
"I don’t have all the facts but Planned Parenthood has apologized for the insensitivity of the employee who was taped and they will continue to answer questions for Congress and others, but for more than a century Planned Parenthood has provided essential services for women," Clinton said at a campaign stop in South Carolina.
She also called it "unfortunate" that the taxpayer-funded organization has endured such "concerted attacks" for its abortion practices.
Republican presidential candidates like Paul have called for the federal government to defund Planned Parenthood. The organization has received $27.8 million in taxpayer money just this year. The Kentucky lawmaker said Tuesday that he will announce a Senate deal to vote on legislation to defund the organization in advance of the August recess.
While House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) has slammed the organization and demanded hearings be held on the "gruesome" abortion practices, House Democrats like Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) are ordering the Justice Department to investigate the Center for Medical Progress for secretly taping the videos.