“ with regards to women ’s health organizations that need .
looking to curry favor with religious conservatives at the outset of a competitive primary fight , bush on tuesday repeated his call to cut off funding for planned parenthood — and then he went even further , questioning the amount of government support for women ’s health programs generally .
jeb bush issued the following statement regarding his comments on federal funding for planned parenthood .
story continued below the romneyesque unforced error drew a fast and furious backlash from democrats , causing bush to backtrack almost immediately and to acknowledge that he “ misspoke .
 
in the midst of the former florida governor 's attack on planned parenthood at an evangelical conference tuesday afternoon , he said : " i ' m not sure we need half a billion dollars for women 's health issues . "
“ if you took dollar for dollar , there are many extraordinarily fine organizations , community health programs , ” bush said , before continuing with his point .
” the controversial comment came as bush started to acknowledge the importance of federal funding for some women ’s health programs , and then stopped mid - sentence to qualify his remarks , asserting that he believes the current amount of funding is likely too much .
bush at a denver event tuesday evening , saying the comment provides a window into what " republican candidates really believe . "