Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is promising to pad Planned Parenthood’s state funding if Congress and President Donald Trump succeed in defunding the abortion giant at the federal level.

“Governor Baker is a strong supporter of women’s health and believes the commonwealth has a responsibility to ensure access to the important health care services offered by Planned Parenthood in all corners of our state,” the Republican governor’s spokeswoman, Lizzy Guyton, said, according to the Boston Herald. “And the administration is prepared to fund these services should the federal government pursue changes that would block care for women and families here in Massachusetts.”

Mary Anne Marsh, a Democrat strategist, reportedly said Baker – who is up for re-election next year – “needs an overwhelming majority of unenrolled voters, and he needs some Democrats, too.”

“The majority of voters in Massachusetts are women and pro-choice,” she added. “So it would hurt him more not to do it than to do it.”

Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, chief executive of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, reportedly told the Herald that elimination of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding would block 10,000 Massachusetts residents from obtaining contraception, cancer screenings, and tests for sexually transmitted diseases.

“As a longtime fiscally conservative Republican, he recognizes the importance of preventive care,” she said. “For every dollar spent, there’s $7 saved in Medicaid funding for family planning. Gov. Baker is aware that Massachusetts has the lowest teen pregnancy rate in the country, and cutting Medicaid funding for preventive services and birth control would reverse those gains.”

The provision to eliminate Planned Parenthood’s federal funding, however, would redirect those resources to many other federally qualified healthcare centers (FQHCs) that provide more comprehensive medical services without performing abortions.

Andrew Beckwith, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, observed Baker is “fixated” on the abortion chain’s funding when there are 270 federally qualified clinics in the state that do not perform abortions. He pointed out, as well, that congressional committees have referred Planned Parenthood for potential criminal prosecution after allegations that the organization sold the harvested body parts of aborted babies for a profit emerged.

Federally qualified healthcare centers provide more services to low-income families than Planned Parenthood does. Nationally, there are 13,000 FQHCs – a figure that outnumbers Planned Parenthood facilities 20 to 1. Nearly 30 FQHCs, for example, are located within ten miles of the Boston area.

Despite the overwhelming number of FQHCs, however, the abortion lobby and the progressive politicians whose political campaigns they fund, claim that by redirecting funding away from Planned Parenthood, states are preventing low-income individuals from accessing health care.

President Donald Trump promised to defund Planned Parenthood if it continues to perform abortions.