Last week, the 9th Circuit Court allowed the Trump administration’s new Title X Family Planning funding rule (dubbed by opponents as the “gag rule”) to go into effect. The mainstream media is attempting to paint the new rule requiring a clear separation between a provider’s abortion business and family planning business as a horrible obstacle for people with low income, but the truth is, even more funding was given for Title X providers this year than the previous year. They just won’t be going to abortion providers. Those Title X Family Planning funds cover:
- Contraceptives and natural family planning services
- Infertility services
- Breast and cervical cancer screening and prevention
- STD and HIV prevention education, counseling, testing, and referrals
- Adolescent abstinence counseling
- Other preventative health services
The new HHS rule only affects facilities that commit or refer for abortions — which means it would potentially strip Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider (320,000+ abortions annually) which holds 35% of the abortion market share in the United States, of approximately $60 million annually — and then reroute those funds to other providers.
THE FACTS the media isn’t telling you:
Fact #1: 87% of Title X family planning services providers are NOT Planned Parenthood facilities.
Planned Parenthood’s website even states that its facilities make up just 13 percent of all Title X family planning provider facilities. That means the vast majority of Title X providers aren’t Planned Parenthood facilities! But you wouldn’t know that from Planned Parenthood’s rhetoric or its reinforcement by the media.
Fact #2: 59% of patients getting Title X services are NOT getting them from Planned Parenthood.
Again, Planned Parenthood’s website states that 41% of patients qualifying for Title X services receive care through Planned Parenthood. A definitive majority get those services elsewhere. When it comes to contraception, 68% of contraceptive patients use other publicly funded providers instead of Planned Parenthood.
Fact #3: Planned Parenthood’s Title X qualified services have DROPPED 60% over eight years.
In a recent interview on FOX, HHS Secretary Alex Azar made this statement: “Cancer screenings and preventative services [at Planned Parenthood facilities] are down 60 percent over the last eight years.” (Video below.)
Fact #4: Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) outnumber Planned Parenthood centers 20 to 1.
FQHCs, which also receive Title X family planning funds, offer a broader range of healthcare than Planned Parenthood. (Data on FQHCs v PP has been previously documented by Live Action News.) In 2018, Planned Parenthood operated 600 facilities while FQHCs rose to 12,000 facilities. Planned Parenthood serves approximately 2.4 million patients annually, while FQHCs serve approximately 27 million.
Fact #5: Under the Trump administration, Title X is still fully funded at $400M — an increase in funding.
This $400 million is an increase of $114 million from previous estimates. So what’s the issue? Abortion providers must now separate their businesses physically and fiscally to qualify. No money has been reduced — it is simply being rerouted to the thousands of other qualified Title X facilities. In 2019, Planned Parenthood made up just nine percent of the 90 HHS approved Title X Family Planning grant recipients. Planned Parenthood still gets Title X funds and can continue to qualify if they maintain physical and fiscal separation of their family planning and abortion business.
The above five facts were alluded to by HHS Secretary Alex Azar in the video interview below, and they’re facts the mainstream media isn’t telling the American people. That’s because they don’t serve the abortion industry’s agenda, or that of its friends in the mainstream media.
(If unable to view video above, click here.)
While the federal Hyde Amendment prohibits federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortion directly, money is fungible, and this is why the Title X rule change was necessary. Money given to Planned Parenthood helps to pay for salaries, facility rent, and general overhead of the same facilities and employees who also participate in abortions.
Abortions and taxpayer dollars at Planned Parenthood have been increasing, generating millions in revenue for Planned Parenthood (while national abortion totals decrease). Planned Parenthood actually pocketed $244.8 million in excess revenue over spending (profit) in 2017, a nearly 149 percent increase from $98.5 million the year prior.
Between 2016 and 2017, Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding (over half a billion dollars annually) rose nearly four percent (3.69%) even though the abortion vendor has been embroiled in numerous scandals, abuses and fraud, including covering up for child sexual predators and alleged discrimination against pregnant employees.
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