On Friday, the Trump administration proposed new rules to the federal family planning program, known as Title X, which would prohibit abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood from receiving taxpayer dollars. Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses currently receiving Title X funding could continue receiving that money only if they separate their abortion businesses from the family planning services they offer. Planned Parenthood stands to lose about $60 million in Title X funding, and in the past, the organization has refused to stop promoting and committing abortions for any reason.
The proposed regulations also include increased safeguards for victims of sexual assault by requiring clinics receiving Title X funds to document compliance with state laws for reporting instances of potential abuse. Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry have a dismal record of ignoring signs of abuse and returning victims to their abusers.
President Trump’s Pro-Life initiative, the “Protect Life Rule,” would not cut funds from the family planning program but would redirect those funds to qualified health centers that do not commit abortions.
The Trump administration’s announcement comes weeks after 153 members of Congress wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar requesting changes to the regulations governing the Title X program. In a joint letter, the members of Congress wrote, “The separation between abortion and family planning has further been weakened by permitting Title X clinics to be ‘co-located’ within the same facility as an entity that provides abortions.” They elaborate, “Co-located centers may be vulnerable to misuse of funds in support of abortion activities and send a message that abortion is considered a method of family planning in federally funded family planning programs.”
The Trump administration’s proposed “Protect Life Rule” reinstates regulations enacted for the Title X program under Pro-Life President Ronald Reagan. Abortion activists are quick to suggest that the Trump administration’s rules will be overturned in court, but Reagan’s 1988 regulations were upheld in the Supreme Court case Rust v. Sullivan in 1991. Forty-one senators emphasized this point in a letter to Secretary Azar, and urged the administration to implement similar standards.
Planned Parenthood affiliates are unlikely to separate the legitimate health services they offer from their abortion enterprise because abortion is a significant part of their business. Each year Planned Parenthood kills more than 320,000 preborn babies in abortions. Legislation barring abortion businesses from receiving tax dollars show that Planned Parenthood is more committed to abortion than to women’s healthcare. That is why Texas Right to Life fought for a budget-wide rider to stop tax dollars from going to the abortion industry in Texas. Planned Parenthood and the like cannot be trusted with fungible tax dollars.
Shortly after taking office last year, President Trump halted funding to Planned Parenthood’s international arm. Last year, the Trump administration also overturned a rule from the Obama era that blocked states from excluding Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses from receiving Title X funding. The new rules for the Title X program at the federal level will ensure that abortion organizations do not receive taxpayer dollars for family planning services in any state.