Update, 1/11/19, 2:20 p.m.: In addition, Senator Marsha Blackburn has introduced “S. 105, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act,” which “strips all abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, of federal funding under Title X of the Public Health Service Act,” according to the Tennessee Star. This is the Senate version of Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s House bill.
1/11/19: Two pro-life Congresswomen have just introduced bills that would advance the cause of life if passed. Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) have introduced the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act (H.R. 296) and the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2019, respectively.
Rep. Foxx’s press release noted that Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act’s purpose is to “codif[y] President Trump’s Protect Life Rule that excludes abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, from receiving Title X funding… prohibits awards of federal family planning grants to entities that perform elective abortions and increases reporting requirements for the Department of Health and Human Services for more transparency and accountability.” Foxx stated that, if passed, the Act would “make sure taxpayer dollars don’t subsidize abortion providers under any future Administrations.”
READ: ‘Aiding Abusers’ series exposes Planned Parenthood’s complicity in sexual abuse
Rep. Hartzler’s press release notes that the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2019 “would place a one-year moratorium on all federal funding for Planned Parenthood” and “would further increase funding for community healthcare centers that focus on comprehensive care for women and their babies. Funds would once again be made available if the abortion giant and its affiliates focused on non-abortion health care services that are appropriate for the taxpayer to support.” Rep. Hartzler added that taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to fund an organization which takes more than 320,000 human lives every year.
Hartzler also noted that Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion services continue to dwindle, even as its focus continues to be on abortion. And Planned Parenthood’s new president, Leana Wen, admitted just this week that her corporation’s “core mission” is, indeed, abortion.
The Defund Planned Parenthood Act would not just defund, but would redirect federal dollars to community health centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers, which vastly outnumber Planned Parenthood centers and offer all that the abortion corporation offers (except for abortion), as well as primary care services.
While these two proposed resolutions are worthy goals, because of House Democrats — who are, with few exceptions, solidly pro-abortion — these resolutions are unlikely to gain traction.
