Last week, the Trump administration announced its intention to cut taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities. Yesterday, the proposal became official. The administration released a document outlining the proposed rule, which will go into effect after a 60-day waiting period, as is standard.
The new proposal will strip Planned Parenthood of approximately $60 million in annual Title X taxpayer dollars. Title X was enacted by Congress in 1970 to provide federal tax dollars for family planning, but banned funding for abortion.
“None of the funds appropriated under this title shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning,” the law stated.
Under the Trump administration’s new rules, Title X projects will not be allowed to refer women for abortions. Any organization that receives family planning funds will also be required to keep facilities where abortions are committed separate from facilities where family planning care is provided. Planned Parenthood, however, has tacitly refused to separate abortion from any of the other services it provides.
Similar regulations were put into place under the Reagan administration, but they were struck down when Bill Clinton, who supports abortion, was elected. There are differences between Reagan’s proposal and the Trump administration’s, however.
“Unlike the Reagan regulation, the proposal will not prohibit counseling for clients about abortion, but neither will it include the current, potentially illegal mandate that projects must counsel and refer for abortion,” a Trump administration official said. “This proposal does not necessarily defund Planned Parenthood, as long as they’re willing to disentangle taxpayer funds from abortion as a method of family planning, which is required by the Title X law. Any grantees that perform, support, or refer for abortion have a choice – disentangle themselves from abortion or fund their activities with privately raised funds.”
The proposal will also mandate Title X recipients to follow state and local laws on sexual abuse reporting — something that is a critical issue for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has repeatedly been caught covering up child rape and sex trafficking, systematically breaking the law by refusing to notify authorities of statutory rape and suspected human trafficking. Time after time, Planned Parenthood behaves as if it is above the law, even at the expense of children who have been raped and trafficked. Now, in order to receive Title X funds, organizations will have to prove that they are complying with laws regarding child abuse.
“Title X projects shall comply with all State and local laws requiring notification or reporting of child abuse, child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, incest, intimate partner violence, or human trafficking (collectively ‘State notification laws’),” the proposal declares. It also mandates that organizations receiving funds will have to provide stringent documentation in multiple areas to prove that they are not breaking any laws.
This proposal was put into place after 153 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter in April requesting new regulations regarding Title X.
Currently, Planned Parenthood receives half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding every year, and commits more than 300,000 abortions a year. The approximately $60 million in annual Title X funding that Planned Parenthood could potentially lose will be redirected to comprehensive health care clinics — legitimate health care providers that do not commit abortions, and which vastly outnumber Planned Parenthood. (These clinics, which are located throughout the nation, can be found here.)
Most Americans oppose taxpayer-funded abortion, and this proposal from the Trump administration, despite complaints from the abortion industry, is giving the American people exactly what they want, and helping redirect money towards legitimate health care providers as opposed to abortion chains.
