Trump offers Planned Parenthood way out of being defunded telling it: Stop abortions and you will keep federal cash

The White House has informally offered to keep Planned Parenthood's funding in place as long as the healthcare provider stops performing abortions
Trump has lauded Planned Parenthood for providing cancer screenings for women, but campaigned as a pro-life politician through 2016
The deal, a non-starter for the organization, shows Trump is trying to please his conservative base and his daughter Ivanka, who supports the group

By Nikki Schwab, U.s. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com

Published: 01:01 GMT, 7 March 2017 | Updated: 01:17 GMT, 7 March 2017

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The White House has informally offered to keep taxpayer dollars in place for Planned Parenthood – as long as the organization no longer provides abortions, the New York Times has learned.

The deal shows how President Trump is being pulled between his conservative base, and Republican members of Congress who want to swiftly defund the group, and his daughter Ivanka Trump, who has supported the women's healthcare provider.

For Planned Parenthood, closing up the abortion side of the clinics is a non-starter, especially since taxpayer dollars can't legally fund abortions anyway.

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President Donald Trump's administration has reached out to Planned Parenthood and offered the group a way to keep its taxpayer dollars: stop providing abortions

'Let's be clear: Federal funds already do not pay for abortions,' Planned Parenthood's Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens told the Times.

'Offering money to Planned Parenthood to abandon our patients and our values is not a deal that we will ever accept,' she continued.

'Providing critical health care services for millions of American women is nonnegotiable,' Laguens added.

For other health services, Planned Parenthood receives about $500 million a year in federal tax dollars.

Republicans on the Hill are currently looking for a vehicle for that money to be stripped, despite the fact that it doesn't go toward abortion services.

Trump, in a statement to the New York Times, also omits that point, as he confirmed that the White House had approached the provider with a deal.

'As I said throughout the campaign, I am pro-life and I am deeply committed to investing in women's health and plan to significantly increase federal funding in support of nonabortion services such as cancer screenings,' the president said.

'Polling shows the majority of Americans oppose public funding for abortion, even those who identify as pro-choice,' Trump continued.

'There is an opportunity for organizations to continue the important work they do in support of women's health, while not providing abortion services,' Trump added.

Trump, who told the late Tim Russert on Meet the Press in 1999 that he was 'very pro-choice,' despite 'hat[ing] the concept of abortion,' decided he was going to be in the pro-life camp during the 2016 campaign.

Last March during the GOP primaries, Trump even went as far as to say women getting abortions should be 'punished,' speaking to MSNBC's Chris Matthews during a town hall event.

However, Trump would occasionally move more leftward than many of his Republican colleagues by expressing support for the women's healthcare aspect of the abortion provider.

'Millions and millions of women – cervical cancer, breast cancer – are helped by Planned Parenthood,' Trump said during a February Republican debate. 'I would defund it because I'm pro-life, but millions of women are helped by Planned Parenthood.'