Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said he "misspoke" on Tuesday when he questioned the amount of money spent on women's health, Talking Points Memo reported.
Bush made the remark while being interviewed at an event hosted by the Southern Baptist Convention earlier in the day, after saying that Planned Parenthood of America should be defunded.
"The argument against this is, it's a war on women, and you're attacking womens' health issues," Bush said. "You could take dollar-for-dollar -- although I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for womens' health issues -- but if you took dollar-for-dollar, there are many fine organizations, community health organizations that exist. Federally-sponsored community health organizations to provide quality care for women on a wide variety of health issues. But abortion should not be funded by the government."
Bush did not mention that, as the Washington Post reported, abortions are not covered under Planned Parenthood's federal funding, except in cases of rape or incest.
The former governor later posted a release online attempting to clarify his statement.
"With regards to women's health funding broadly, I misspoke," the statement read. "There are countless community health centers, rural clinics, and other women’s health organizations that need to be fully funded. They provide critical services to all, but particularly low-income women who don’t have the access they need."
Bush said in his statement that he was referring to the $528 million Planned Parenthood affiliates received from the government, a figure he called "hard to fathom." He also accused the organization of "callously participating in the unthinkable practice of selling fetal organs," a reference to a series of videos released by an anti-abortion group that have already been debunked.
Watch Bush's remarks, as posted by Crooks And Liars, below.