Planned Parenthood Doubles Down on Abortion, Drops Out of Title X Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 19, 2019
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley
[email protected] 202-223-8073

Pres. Trump’s ‘Protect Life Rule’ Stops Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Industry

Washington, D.C. – Today, Planned Parenthood – the nation’s largest abortion business – announced it will drop out of the Title X program and forego nearly $60 million in taxpayer funding rather than comply with President Trump’s Protect Life Rule, designed to disentangle abortion from the Title X network. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday declined to hear Planned Parenthood’s request for an emergency injunction, leaving in place a previous panel ruling that allowed the Protect Life Rule to take effect while litigation continues.

Under the Protect Life Rule abortion centers cannot serve as taxpayer-funded family planning centers (“co-location”). In addition, Title X locations cannot refer for abortion. The Protect Life Rule does not prohibit Title X providers from providing neutral, nondirective counseling about abortion and does not prevent anyone from obtaining Title X services. It does not reduce family planning funding by a dime. Instead, it directs tax dollars to Title X centers that do not promote or perform abortions, such as the growing number of community and rural health centers that far outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities. Similar regulations were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1991 in Rust v. Sullivan (500 U.S. 173).

“Today, Planned Parenthood showed its true colors by prioritizing abortion over family planning, refusing to comply with the Protect Life Rule and dropping out of the Title X program,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “President Trump’s Title X Protect Life Rule is a huge victory for the majority of taxpayers who reject taxpayer funding of abortion. The Protect Life Rule does not reduce family planning funding by a single dollar, it simply directs taxpayer funding to family planning providers who stay out of the abortion business. Women have the most to gain from this news. With community health alternatives vastly outnumbering Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide, on average, these health centers would see an additional two clients per week. This is a huge win for women’s health.”

Represented by the Thomas More Society, SBA List has filed amicus briefs in support of the Protect Life Rule and the federal government in every case brought to date.

A Marist poll in January of this year found that, by a double-digit margin, a majority of all Americans oppose any taxpayer funding of abortion (54 percent to 39 percent).

SBA List is a network of more than 787,000 pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.

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