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February 23, 2018 01:02 PM UTC

Cynthia Coffman apparently doesn't want to talk about Planned Parenthood anymore

  • 21 Comments
  • by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Attorney General Cynthia Coffman

Republican gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Coffman, who’s also Colorado’s attorney general, spent a substantial chunk of time during her early career helping Colorado Republicans develop legal arguments to defund Planned Parenthood.

She became widely known as an expert on the arcane topic, and last year, anti-abortion activists repeatedly cited Coffman’s 2001 legal opinion as evidence in a lawsuit (footnote 3 here) claiming that Colorado’s ban on using tax dollars for abortion precludes the state from funding Planned Parenthood at all, even for the women’s health organization’s non-abortion services for low income people, such as breast cancer screening.

Colorado’s Supreme Court disagreed, ruling last month that the state can provide funds for Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion services, despite the constitutional abortion-funding ban.

You’d think this would be a major disappointment for Coffman, who once boasted about her role in defunding Planned Parenthood, “We went through the legal process, since I was [Jane Norton’s] attorney, and we defunded Planned Parenthood in that case, because they were using public funds to subsidize abortion.”

Coffman’s campaign did not respond to my request for comment after the Colorado Supreme Court decision last month.

But during a brief interview Wednesday, prior to a debate, Coffman indicated that her hard stance against Planned Parenthood may have softened.

Asked whether she still opposes public funding for Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion services, Coffman declined comment, saying, “That’s a longer conversation we should have another time.”

If Coffman were still opposed to funding for Planned Parenthood, a quick “yes” would have ended my interview.

You wouldn’t think a “longer conversation” would be required to restate an existing and painstakingly well-documented. Still, it’s quite possible her hard line position hasn’t changed, and she just wanted to lay it out during a long conversation.

So we don’t know for sure.

At Wednesday’s debate, she referred me to a staffer, who was accompanying her.  The staffer asked me to email her my interview request, which I did and to which I’ve gotten no response.

Coffman has taken conflicting stances on the abortion issue during this year’s gubernatorial campaign, accepting a TV reporter’s characterization of her as “pro-choice” but later telling a talk show host she refuses to accept the “pro-choice” label.  Then she told another reporter she wants abortion to be “rare” and “safe,” which sounds more like a pro-choice stand.

Then Coffman told a radio host that she personally disagrees with the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, though she accepts the law as “settled.”

Against this backdrop, you can see why Coffman would rather not talk about the Planned Parenthood court decision, which is precisely why reporters should ask her about it!

She’s already being pounded by anti-abortion conservatives for her contradictory statements on abortion during the gubernatorial campaign.

And anti-abortion Republicans are known to have an outsized influence at GOP assembly, where Coffman must win 30 percent of delegates to advance to the primary election.

So, she’d rather not say anything more to turn anti-choice activists away than she already has.

At the same time, Coffman appears to be setting herself up to try to leapfrog over anti-abortion Republicans and appeal to pro-choice unaffiliated voters in the primary and general elections.

For now, she apparently thinks her best strategy is to have it both ways on abortion, and talking about Planned Parenthood won’t help her.

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21 thoughts on “Cynthia Coffman apparently doesn’t want to talk about Planned Parenthood anymore”

  2. Why should she talk to you, Jason? You're not a reporter. You're a left wing hack. She shouldn't talk to you and Colorado Pols shouldn't go on Rush Limbaugh.

    Do not pretend you have the credibility of a journalist. You work for the dark side.

    1. How do you know he works for the dark side?  Did you see him when you were trying to be an Imperial Storm Trooper? Too bad you were too incompetent even for them.

    2. Get it straight, Moderatus:

      Jason is a journalist, and a good one.  He took the trouble to contact Cynthia Coffman directly, and to get an accurate quote from her.

      You, on the other hand, are a Republican party shill. Your blind loyalty to your leaders, and insulting anyone who dares to question said leaders, is all you have in your toolbox.

    4. Hi Moderatus– I'm progressive, yes! But why do you think I'm a hack? I'll correct any error. I answer questions about my work. I welcome interviewees to send me whatever they want to say, if they feel I've treated them unfairly. I admit my progressive orientation and funding. In those respects, I try to earn the credibility of a journalist. But I am a progressive journalist, which is a different type obviously.

      I once voted for Ralph Nader, caucused for Bernie. I criticize Democrats. See: https://coloradopolitics.com/qa-w-jason-salzman-where-activism-meets-journalism/

      I don't know enough about you to accuse you of being a hack. So I won't do that. I'm glad you're here engaging with people who disagree with you.

      In any case, anyone can and should ask Coffman questions–or Stapleton or Polis or Kennedy, etc. The more questions asked the better, yes?

      And ColoradoPols should go on Rush. What's wrong with debate? Why can't we ask questions of one another?

    5. What a cretin you are, Fluffykins.

      I have met Jason…he is a real person…and a nice one, too. Why don't you arrange to sit down with him and get to know each other better? 

      Oh, I know why….'cause you are not a real person. You are an anonymous troll. And you probably can't afford to get here from Russia anyway.

      So …nevermind. Just keep being an empty- headed echo chamber ( or a badly constructed algorithm) and we will keep appreciating the comic relief.

      Thanks, and have shitty day!

          1. I'd meet up with Polsters over Spring break (last week of March), but probably not before. I'd even be willing to travel to the Springs or Pueblo.  Or cross the Rockies to the western slope before June, even though the Utes didn't recommend it.

            Moderatus, I'd be nice to you, although we agree about very little, just because we are both Coloradans and Polsters. People have called me a troll, too…it's a handy insult when we disagree with someone.

            I've met your wife, and several people in the Pueblo RP.  I'm actually not that scary.

            1. For reals, mama? Fluffy has a better half, and is a real live Coloradan?

              That is good to know. I will stop calling him a Russian…but I will still call him an idiot.😜

              1. He is a real person active in the Republican party. He was outed last year some time, didn’t deny it. I won’t out him further here. ..if we actually have a meetup and he attends, you can ask him yourself.
                I don't know why he posts on here so much – possibly a misguided sense of duty to get his own point of view out there?

                Plus, this forum tolerates dissent – not so much his own Republican forums like Peak Politics, Complete Colorado, Redstate, etc. They ban you quick if you depart from the forum orthodox line.

                Enlighten us, Modster – what do you see as your "mission" here?

                1. His mission is to constantly remind us, so we never ever forget, just how completely clueless, without thought, and intellectually and morally bereft, the average below average rank-and-file Republican actually is . . . 

    6. The good thing about you, Moddy, is that you're willing to support underprivileged candidates like Cynthia "Coffman" (she doesn't use that name on attorney registration records).  It's nice that she has a friend.  Since apparently all the mean reporters from the left are being so mean to her.  

       

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