President Donald Trump’s administration has taken a step towards stripping Planned Parenthood of federal funding.
The Health and Human Services Department has changed rules in the Title X program that will not allow groups that provide abortion or abortion referrals to participate in a $286 million federal family program.
From The Washington Examiner:
The rule applies to a grant, known as Title X, that pays for birth control, testing of sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screenings. It requires the “physical and financial” separation of family planning services and abortion.Federal funds are not permitted to go toward abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, or if a woman’s pregnancy threatens her life. Abortion foes, however, have long fought for rules along the lines of the one advanced Friday because they say allocating federal funds toward clinics such as Planned Parenthood frees up additional funds to provide abortions.
Planned Parenthood makes up the majority of the chunk of the program since it receives between $50 million and $60 million from it.
The critics have called this a gag order, but clinics can still talk to women about abortions. They just cannot refer them.
More than likely the abortion provider will challenge the rule in federal court. It’s similar to a rule from the 1980s:
The rule is similar to a 1988 policy instituted by former President Ronald Reagan, which required family planning services to have a “physical separation” and “separate personnel” from abortion providers.Planned Parenthood and other groups challenged the Reagan-era rule in court. The Supreme Court allowed the policy to move forward, but it was never carried out completely. Then-President Bill Clinton rolled back the rules in 1994.
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