Ivanka Trump Had a Secret Meeting with the President of Planned Parenthood

Secret meetings appear to be one of the stories du jour about President Donald Trump‘s administration this week.

First, on Tuesday, BuzzFeed News reported that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with various American Muslim leaders in secret before Trump’s inauguration. Early Thursday morning, Politico reported another such meeting, this time between Trump’s daughter and Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump, and Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood. Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood’s executive vice president, confirmed what she termed “an explainer meeting” on the record for Politico.

“The purpose of the meeting, from Cecile’s point of view, was to make sure that Ivanka fully understood what Planned Parenthood does, how it is funded, and why it would be a terrible idea for Planned Parenthood to be removed from being able to see Medicaid patients,” Laguens told Politico. “The main thing that Cecile Richards was doing was explaining that the money doesn’t actually go to abortions — we get reimbursed the same way a hospital does. We were clearing up misinformation about how this works.”

Richards also tried to find some common ground with Ivanka noting that she was the daughter of former Texas governor Ann Richards.

As for President Trump, his position on Planned Parenthood has gone back and forth over the last few years.

[image via shutterstock]

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