While the Affordable Care Act has previously been a favorite talking point for Republicans, few candidates took time to highlight their intention to repeal the law.
Foreign policy was more prominently discussed than healthcare during Wednesday night's nearly three-hour debate between the 11 highest-polling GOP presidential candidates..
Still, Planned Parenthood got airtime. The debaters all agreed that the women's health organization should not receive any government funds.
The candidates talked over each other to tout their anti-abortion credentials and their records denying government money to Planned Parenthood.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said Congress should force President Barack Obama to veto a federal budget deal that defunds Planned Parenthood, saying the issue was about “the character of this nation.”
“I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes—watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain," she said.
Journalists who have seen the unedited videos quickly took to Twitter and blogs refuting Fiorina's claims.
Fiorina snagged an invitation to the larger political stage Wednesday after a strong performance in last month's early debate for those with lower poll numbers. CNN changed its debate inclusion criteria to include her after her numbers rose.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said they had defunded Planned Parenthood in their states.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who has supported forcing a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood, called the organization “a criminal enterprise.”
Donald Trump, the current front-runner in the Republican field, said he respects women and "will take care of them."
Only Ohio Gov. John Kasich said specifically that he doesn't think it's a good idea to shut down the federal government over the issue, although he endorsed eliminating federal funding for the organization.
“There are ways to do it that don't shut the government down,” Kasich said.
When asked about vaccinations, the candidates agreed that people should get them, but cautioned against the number and frequency of vaccines for children.
One of the debate's last questions brought up Trump's statements that vaccines can be dangerous. Dr. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon, said there is no credible research linking vaccines with autism, but he also suggested Americans should exercise discretion about certain vaccines, and said that they generally get too many of them in too short of a time.
Trump responded that he is in favor of vaccines, but thinks they should be given in lower doses over longer periods of time. He also said autism has become an epidemic over the past 35 years, and shared an anecdote about an acquaintance who had her baby vaccinated, and the child was later diagnosed with autism.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, also a doctor, said he supports vaccinations, but also believes in the freedom to spread them out over time. No research has shown that U.S. vaccination practices are harmful.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said the focus of healthcare should be on cures more than treatment, and that more resources should be spent fighting heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
A protracted exchange on immigration policy did not address the potential health effects of Trump's stated intention to deport the entire population of those living in the U.S. without authorization.
The American College of Physicians recently said that action would have “severe and unacceptable adverse health consequences."
Trump also defended his stance that the U.S. should abandon the birth-right citizenship that many legal scholars consider granted by the 14th Amendment. Trump said granting citizenship to children born to women who travel to the U.S. to give birth creates an unacceptable burden on programs like Medicare and Medicaid to “take care of them for 85 years."
Paul responded to a question about marijuana legalization by saying he supports a state's right to legalize it and supports medical marijuana. Christie said he has supported medical marijuana in his state. Fiorina said she also supports a state's right to allow marijuana use, but called for more investment in treating drug addiction, referencing her stepdaughter's struggle with addiction and subsequent death at age 35.
