Support for Trump Administration’s Protect Life Rule

Below are statements from legislators and pro-life leaders expressing their support for the Trump Administration’s decision to issue the Protect Life Rule to stop Title X Family Planning tax dollars going to organizations that perform or promote abortions. This includes Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business, which has enjoyed between $50 – $60 Million tax dollars through the program each year.

Legislators

“Taxpayers should not have to bear the abortion industry’s financial burden – directly or indirectly. I am proud to stand with President Trump in protecting taxpayer dollars from abortion advocates, using those family-planning dollars instead to provide comprehensive, life-affirming care to women.”
U.S. Representative Kristi Noem (R-SD)

“I’m proud to stand with the Trump Administration to ensure that our money is funding actual family planning programs, and not the abortion industry. Abortion is not women’s healthcare or family planning — it’s family destruction.”
U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN)

“I am heartened that the Trump Administration is putting forward new regulations to clear up any misunderstanding: abortion is not family planning, and the abortion industry should not be the recipient of taxpayer funded family planning programs. This proposed rule will distinguish between health care facilities that provide family planning services and clinics whose business models promote, facilitate, and perform the inhumane act of abortion.”
U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)

“Every human life is precious, and taxpayers should not be forced to pay for the destruction of life. Congress recently renewed critical funding for community health centers that provide quality health care but do not perform abortions. I applaud the Trump administration’s decision to support women’s health care and protect the unborn by restricting federal funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.”
U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN)

“President Trump’s executive order will ensure that resources for women’s health are directed to make the largest impact possible. For example, there is not a single planned parenthood in my district but there are dozens of community health clinics and other options that provide health services for women. It’s important that we focus on maximizing options for women and that’s what this order does.”
U.S. Representative Evan Jenkins (R-WV)

“Today is a great victory for life and the millions of people who have spoken loud and clear about not wanting federal tax dollars used for abortions. I want to thank my colleagues for joining our efforts to secure these needed regulations and thank the Trump administration for heeding our call. These new regulations will save lives and ensure Title X funding supports actual family planning services instead of abortion providers.”
U.S. Representative Ron Estes (R-KS)

“President Trump’s new Protect Life Rule at long last reinstates principles first put forward under the Reagan Administration, and upheld by the Supreme Court nearly three decades ago. The Reagan Rule reinstated by the current Administration finally creates a bright line of separation between abortion and family planning. Abortion is not family planning – in sharp contrast, the violence of abortion wounds families.”
U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ)

“I applaud President Trump and his administration for taking a bold stand for life with the proposal of the Protect Life Rule. By prohibiting Title X funds from going to abortion providers, we will ensure that taxpayer dollars are not being spent on ending innocent lives, and will instead be directed to life-affirming healthcare and family-planning organizations. Indiana has been a leader in the pro-life movement, and I am proud of the President for fighting for women’s health and the unborn on a national scale.”
Indiana State Senator Erin Houchin (R-District 47)

“I applaud President Trump for his courageous decision on the proposed Protect Life Rule. I stand with Hoosiers who prefer our tax dollars be used for improving the health of all Hoosiers, not for the taking of innocent life.”
Indiana State Senator Liz Brown (R-District 15)

“Hoosier women deserve care that focuses on their well-being and health, rather than the push toward the profitability of abortion and the destruction of the life of their child. We know that community health centers and other types of clinics available in Indiana focus on the health of women. Not only do these 3,600 alternative locations provide more comprehensive healthcare compared to Planned Parenthood’s limited services at 17 facilities, but they outnumber the abortion giant’s number of locations more than 200 to 1. The stand-alone family planning clinic has become a thing of the past and the new Title X regulations recognize that.”
Indiana State Representative Peggy Mayfield (R-District 60)

Pro-Life Leaders

“The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) applauds President Trump’s common sense clarification of the original purpose of Title X, which explicitly did not support pushing abortion as a method of family planning. Under previous administrations the intent of Title X was contorted and circumvented in order to allow Planned Parenthood to pay for everything up to the point of the actual abortion, including pressuring women to have abortions in their counseling. The Trump administration action corrects this horrendous perversion of the law and restores Title X funds to real health care facilities, instead of abortion mills. AAPLOG applauds this clarification.”
Donna Harrison, M.D., Executive Director of AAPLOG

“Abortion hurts both born and unborn women. Family planning at Planned Parenthood means access to abortion. Pro-life medical providers across the country offer life-affirming care that assists women without abortion. President Trump’s proposed Protect Life rule recognizes that women don’t need abortion. Title X dollars aren’t being cut, but simply redirected to abortion-free providers. We commend the Protect Life rule that will separate abortion from real health care.”
Christina Francis, M.D., Chairman of the AAPLOG Board of Directors

“I am very grateful to President Trump for making the Protect Life Rule a reality. As someone that researches abortion abuses daily, I know this rule will protect vulnerable women from exploitation and possible harm at Planned Parenthood abortion clinics that masquerade as women’s health facilities. President Trump promised to defund Planned Parenthood and today he has kept that promise as far as the Title X program is concerned. Thank you, Mr. President!”
Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Vice President, Operation Rescue

“This new rule is the Trump Administration’s response to the requests of 194 Members of Congress and 85 pro-life advocacy groups to update Title X regulations in light of the fungibility of these funds. Americans want out of the abortion business; six-in-ten Americans oppose taxpayer funding for abortion. This is yet another promise fulfilled by President Trump and his administration. It is also a necessary response to the frustration felt by our grassroots over funding for abortion providers in the omnibus and the Senate’s failure to pass a law to redirect Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid dollars to Federally Qualified Health Centers. I applaud the House members and senators who pushed for this, Secretary Azar’s response, and President Trump’s leadership.”
Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee

“Today, the majority of our population is pro-life. Light bulbs are coming on to the truth that all human beings – of one blood and one race – should have the right to be born. In the past, the fight to protect and defend the lives of the unborn has been hampered by regulatory malfunction. With the Trump Administration’s new executive order regarding Title X provisos, regulation becomes the key to success. Families and individuals can now hope for protection from the predatory practices of abortion-providing grant recipients demonstrably more interested in protecting their ability to make millions of dollars through abortions than they are in protecting the rights and safety of their clients. Families and individuals need true health care. Abortion is death care.”
Alveda King, niece of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Here’s the bottom line: President Trump loves America and all her citizens.  And, more than any of his predecessors, he values America’s unborn. President Trump understands that most Americans believe and trust that every life is precious. American taxpayers don’t want to and should not be forced to give their hard-earned dollars to Planned Parenthood or any organization that brutally kills unborn children. They don’t want to be forced to subsidize a group that causes emotional and many times physical scars to  mothers. I applaud President Trump for having the mortal fortitude to do the right thing.”
Day Gardner, president of the National Black Pro-Life Union