| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 15, 2019 |
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley [email protected] 202-223-8073 |
Pro-life Rule Stops Taxpayer Funding of the Abortion Industry via Title X
Washington, D.C. – Today the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it will immediately begin implementing President Trump’s Protect Life Rule, stopping taxpayer-funded facilities from referring for abortions or commingling finances with abortion businesses. Finalized earlier this year, the rule advances President Trump’s promise to stop taxpayer funding of abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood, who will no longer receive Title X funding if they choose not to comply.
Last week the 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous panel ruling that lifted state and nationwide injunctions against the Protect Life Rule while court cases proceed.
The national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) praised the Trump administration in a statement:
“We thank President Trump and Secretary Azar for acting decisively to stop taxpayer funding of the abortion industry, as willed by the American people,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “A strong majority of Americans have consistently voiced their opposition to taxpayer funding of abortion – it is even unpopular among Democrats and self-described pro-choice Americans. Without reducing Title X funding by a dime, the Protect Life Rule simply draws a bright line between abortion and family planning, stopping abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood from treating Title X as their private slush fund. We are confident that the Trump administration will ultimately prevail and grateful that, in the meantime, the Protect Life Rule can immediately begin saving lives.”
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).
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).
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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