The Reformed Advisor

BOOM: President Trump Defunds Planned Parenthood! Here’s My Big Concern.

Posted on June 6, 2018 in Life, Money, Public Policy by

Photo by Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images

Photo by Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images

President Trump has once again kept his promise to be a pro-life president. For that I am grateful. But I have major concerns with the effect his actions will have.

President Trump has once again delivered on his campaign promise to be a pro-life president by reinstating a policy that denies Title X funding to any community health center that provides abortion. Title X is the federal program that provides free and low-cost health services, such as cancer screenings, birth control, and mammograms to low income people.

Planned Parenthood has been the recipient of these funds, to the tune of $60 million per year, for quite a while. That revenue stream for the abortion merchant came to an end when President Trump proposed the “Protect Life Rule,” which would refuse federal funds to any group providing abortion.

Despite hysterics by Planned Parenthood, a recent articlemakes clear that this proposal does not defund Planned Parenthood or outlaw abortion:

“This proposal does not necessarily defund Planned Parenthood, as long as they’re willing to disentangle taxpayer funds from abortion as a method of family planning, which is required by the Title X law. Any grantees that perform, support, or refer for abortion have a choice – disentangle themselves from abortion or fund their activities with privately raised funds.”

This proposal simply requires any health service organization receiving Title X funds to be an entirely separate entity from one providing abortions. Planned Parenthood, for example, could continue to provide abortions as long as such facilities are completely separate from the facilities where they provide other services. Of course Planned Parenthood wants everyone to think that all health care for all women is now in jeopardy.

A Vice President for Planned Parenthood commented:“Under this rule, people will not get the health care they need. They won’t get birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, or even general women’s health exams.” This just shows the desperation of Planned Parenthood as they completely ignore the facts. For example, the following was reported concerning this proposal:

“The Department of Health and Human Services said that the proposal was being filed in order to “ensure compliance” with laws that prohibit federal funds from going toward abortions. The amount the federal government spends on family planning services, including birth control, STD testing, and cancer screenings, will not be cut. The program covers 4 million low-income people.”

The vast majority of Planned Parenthood facilities offer one service: abortion. To be fair, they offer free condoms and birth control, but outside of these few things the major “service” they offer is abortion. So when a Planned Parenthood official speaks about women not getting “cancer screenings” or “general women’s health exams” if this provision is enacted, she is not speaking of things offered at Planned Parenthood. She is using this as a fear mongering tactic to scare people.

Where will women go if they can’t go to Planned Parenthood? Will they have to go to one of the thousands of private health service centers in each state offering the same or better care to women (without abortion)? Oh, wait, women can continue to get the services they need from just about any other local community health provider. Turns out, women don’t need Planned Parenthood.

This is a necessary provision to Title X. Planned Parenthood has exploited a loophole that allows them to receive millions in federal tax dollars for “health services” while providing virtually nothing other than abortion. To get around the law, Planned Parenthood uses federal money for their administrative and other “non-abortion” costs. All the while they use the donations they receive from individuals to pay for abortions.

Bradley Mattes, president of Life Issues Institute, praisedthe decision by the Trump administration:

“The Protect Life Rule will direct our hard-earned taxpayer dollars AWAY from abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood. Right now, Title X is a slush fund for Planned Parenthood. It is their second biggest source of taxpayer funding at around $60 million per year. This is an historic moment in our decades-long fight to stop taxpayer funding of abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood. President Trump has stood strong on his campaign promise to be a pro-life president. He appointed pro-life Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, he has stood up strongly for conscience rights and religious liberty, and has worked tirelessly to stop taxpayer funding of abortion both here at home and abroad.”

My only concern is that pro-lifers are being distracted from other very serious policy issues from the Trump administration by these pro-life victories. It has often been said that many pro-lifers, including Christians, are single-issue voters. There’s room for discussion on this idea another time. Serious policy concerns including the national debt, federal spending, foreign policy, immigration, and religious freedom still need a close watch.

While I am thankful for the pro-life step being taken, I remain cautiously optimistic.

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