On Wednesday, a federal appeals court once more blocked a Trump Administration rule meant to prevent abortion facilities from using federal taxpayer dollars under Title X family planning.
In a two-paragraph order, Chief Ninth Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas announced that the court voted to rehear a case en banc (meaning it will be heard in front of all the judges rather than the typical smaller panel of them) regarding a temporarily blocked Trump Administration rule. The rule forbids federally-funded centers from committing and referring for abortions and requires that Title X recipients keep a “clear financial and physical separation” between their abortion services and their actual healthcare.
Title X funds have not been allowed to be used “in programs where abortion is a method of family planning,” but the new rule takes it a step further, forbidding Title X funds from supporting centers that provider or refer for abortion. Dubbed by abortion advocates as the “gag rule,” the new rule was set to take effect May 3 before it was blocked by three judges in Washington, Oregon, and California.
READ: 5 facts the media isn’t telling you about Planned Parenthood’s Title X funding
Then in June, a unanimous and random three-judge Ninth Circuit panel found that the new rule was indeed a “reasonable interpretation” of Section 1008 of Title X, the Nixon-era federal program that allows for the federal funding of family planning services. They determined that the new rule could go into effect.
Now, after the plaintiffs requested it, the full panel of 11 Ninth Circuit judges will decide if the decision of that three-judge panel to allow the rule to stand was the right decision. If the back-and-forth continues after this, the case could make it to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Planned Parenthood is one of the abortion businesses that stands to lose federal money if the pro-life rule stands. As the largest abortion organization is the United States, Planned Parenthood often commits abortions in the same building in which they offer birth control and other services. This has caused a fungibility issue, which Planned Parenthood denies, but is the reason the new rule exists. Watch the video below for a better explanation of how federal taxpayer dollars unfortunately continue to support the abortion industry:
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