Trump Proposes New Rule to End Federal Abortion Funding

President Donald Trump took aim at the federal funding of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers with a new rule on Friday. The rule would restrict federal funding from clinics that refer patients for abortions.

Today’s rule would put Donald Trump between women and their doctors, and it signals a new phase in the Republican war on women’s health,” said Marjorie Connolly, communications director for the organization Protect Our Care.

White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway said the rule does not affect abortion clinics that do not receive federal funding for family planning services; organizations that do receive such funding should not be allowed to perform abortions.

“Let’s get out of the business of taxpayer-funding of abortions,” Conway told Fox News.

In a statement, the White House said the proposal requires “a bright line of physical as well as financial separation” between federally funded programs and “any program (or facility) where abortion is performed, supported, or referred for as a method of family planning.”

The administration denied that the new policy is a “gag rule,” saying it “will not prohibit counseling for clients about abortion,” but it won’t “include the current mandate that projects must counsel and refer for abortion.”

“Women would no longer be guaranteed the right to health care information from their doctors,” said Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood. Richards criticized the advocates for the rule, saying in the end there would not only be less money for organizations like Planned Parenthood, but that it would additionally result in a lack of information for parents.

HHS-OS-2018-0008 reads in part, quote, “none of the funds appropriated for Title X may be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning and related statutory requirements. In addition, OPA amends the Title X regulations to clarify grantee responsibilities to provide a broad range of family planning methods and services; to remove the requirements for nondirective abortion counseling and referral; to prohibit referral for abortion; to require documented compliance with State and local laws requiring notification or the reporting of child abuse, child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, incest, intimate partner violence, and human trafficking; to clarify that women who are unable to obtain employer-sponsored insurance coverage for certain contraceptive services, due to their employers’ objections based on religious beliefs or moral convictions, may be eligible for free or low cost access to family planning services through Title X under the good reasons exception; to provide for the appropriate expenditure of Title X funds on family planning services, rather than on lobbying or related activities; to ensure clarity regarding the purpose of Title X, and compliance with statutory program integrity provisions, by requiring the physical and financial separation of Title X projects and facilities from programs and facilities where abortion is a method of family planning; and to encourage appropriate family participation in family planning decisions, as required by Federal law.”

This rule from the Trump administration comes on the heels of the state of Vermont passing legislation in the house that would legalize abortion for any reason in the state.

This new rule is entirely in line with President Trump’s promise to protect the lives of unborn children.