Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton gained the endorsement of Planned Parenthood on Sunday, making it the first time the organization has backed a primary candidate.
"I have stood with you throughout my life and certainly throughout my career and I promise you this: As your president, I will always have your back," Clinton said to a room full of Planned Parenthood supporters, NBC News reported.
Clinton also drew partisan lines at the event. "I shudder to think about what the Republicans would do if given the chance," Clinton said. "Planned Parenthood should be funded, supported and appreciated - not undermined, misrepresented and demonized."
Last month, Republicans in Congress voted to defund Planned Parenthood, Huffington Post reported. Although it was mostly a symbolic move, it did give a glimpse into how many in the GOP would prefer the organization be defunded altogether.
"Access to affordable birth control is still hanging in the balance at the Supreme Court," Clinton said, CNN reported. "If a Republicans wins this election and gets the chance to stack the Supreme Court with right wing justices, together they will accelerate the move to take America in the wrong direction on so many issues that you and I have fought for and many Americans take for granted."
Not only did Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards announce on Sunday her organization's decision to endorse Clinton, but she closed the door on the possibility that Bill Clinton's past behavior, which has been a target by GOP front-runner Donald Trump, is a subject of discussion.
"It's really not the focus of this event today. It's a political campaign, I'm sure there's going to be all kinds of mud everywhere," Richards told Time. "But to me, reason we're endorsing her today - the reason why hundreds of people across this country got together - is because Hillary Clinton is a longstanding champion of women's health and women's rights and not just planned parenthood: equal pay, access to birth control, access to safe and legal abortion."
