Sen. Jon Kyl's staff previously explained away his false claim that 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's services are abortions by saying it was "not intended to be a factual statement." Now it seems Kyl didn't intend it to be a statement, either. He's had the claim stricken from the congressional record, Talking Points Memo's Jon Terbush reports.
When House Republicans were fighting with Senate Democrats over the 2011 budget--and whether any social policy riders should be attached to it--Kyl said, "If you want an abortion you go to Planned Parenthood and that's well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does."
Abortions account for 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's services. When CNN asked Kyl's office about the comments, his staff relayed this message: "His remark was not intended to be a factual statement, but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, a organization that receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, does subsidize abortions."
Kyl was widely mocked for the statement, most notably by Stephen Colbert, who launched a Twitter campaign saying hilariously libelous statements about Kyl qualified by the hashtag #notintendedtobeafactualstatement.
Members of Congress get to edit the official transcript of their remarks on the floor. Kyl's April 8 statements now say, "If you want an abortion you go to Planned Parenthood and that is what Planned Parenthood does."
If only the rest of us were lucky enough to be able to go back in time and edit away all the stupid things we've ever said.
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