This week, President Trump made good on a major campaign promise. He defunded Planned Parenthood.
Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 7-4 decision upholding President Trump's "Protect Life" executive action. The new regulation prohibits medical clinics from receiving Title X federal funding if they perform or refer for abortions.
For decades, it has been against the law for Federal funds to finance or facilitate abortion procedures. Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics skirted this ban by using accounting tricks to gain access to 280 million in funding every year. These funds don't directly fund the abortion procedures, but they allow Planned Parenthood -- the world's largest abortion provider -- to stay in business.
That is because money is fungible. What that means is that even if 280 million doesn't directly go towards abortions, as soon as it hits their bank accounts, it frees up other revenues to enable Planned Parenthood to abort 330,000 babies a year.
Trump's new order clarifies the interpretation of the long-standing Hyde Amendment and states that any clinic that wants access to this funding must be completely financially separated from abortion businesses.
Republicans have been promising to do this for decades. But every time the bill came up for a vote, the GOP found a new excuse for why the timing wasn't right to save the unborn. President Trump made good on his promise. While the mainstream media was focusing on his tweets, the President officially cut off Planned Parenthood's access to hundreds of millions.
Republicans should be thanking Trump. He did what they couldn't muster the courage to do.
But right now, Republicans in the House and Senate are flipping and promising to help Democrats roll back this life-saving executive order!
The same day that Trump announced the funding cuts, Planned Parenthood's board fired the organization's President. They claimed that she wasn't radical enough and wanted a President who would be more politically active.
The truth is that Planned Parenthood has already spent millions to lobby Congress to save their funding. This is on top of the millions that they already donate to liberal politicians and organizations.
And now, they have their "fix." Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee have approved an amendment to this year's spending bill that would overturn Trump's Protect Life order. The amendment requires that the Department of Health and Human Services distribute Title X family planning funding "pursuant to the authority under section 1006 of the PHS Act that applied as of January 18, 2017." This is important because that date is two days before Trump took the oath of office.
This amendment would require that the Trump administration re-adopt all of the Obama administration's abortion-related regulations. The Left wants to simply undo every pro-life regulation that Trump has implemented since he took office... It would be like Obama never left!
So why are Republicans also supporting the Left's plan?
In the Senate Appropriations Committee, Republicans only hold a one-vote advantage. Practically, this majority means nothing because GOP Rinos Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sit on the committee. They almost always vote with the Left on abortion issues and have consistently blocked pro-life amendments from reaching the President's desk. If they team up with the Democrats, they have the power to push this radical provision to the floor.
Susan Collins is on the record calling Trump's Protect Life order "disgraceful" and promising to block it from going into effect. Lisa Murkowski has been protecting Planned Parenthood's funding for over a decade. When then-Congressman Mike Pence introduced a bill in 2011 to defund Planned Parenthood, Murkowski responded that she believed the abortion organization provided "vital services to those in need" and promised to protect their funding. To this day, Murkowski is still denouncing the funding cuts.
Lamar Alexander (R-TN) is also a wild card because he is retiring at the end of this term. He has voted to defund Planned Parenthood in the past, but has started supporting more and more liberal bills since announcing his retirement. He doesn't have to stand for re-election again, so he can abandon his campaign promises without electoral consequences.
But even if Alexander holds the line, Collins and Murkowski's two votes are still enough to overturn Trump's Protect Life executive order. Their two votes give Democrats the power to push this amendment into the final bill and restore all of Planned Parenthood's funding!
It took us years to get to this point. Many of you have participated in our past FaxBlasting campaigns pressuring Congress to defund Planned Parenthood.
We are finally there. Planned Parenthood's funding is cut off. They are firing their leadership and have just announced that they are dipping into their emergency funds so they can keep their doors open.
But that won't last long. The world's largest abortion provider will have to start closing its clinics if Trump's regulation stays in effect.
This is truly a once in a lifetime chance. We are so close to winning. We are so close to pulling the plug on Planned Parenthood's funding for good. But the fight is not over! The rabid Left is doing everything they can to overturn Trump's Protect Life order and now Republicans are helping them!
Do not let the GOP team up with these Leftists to restore Planned Parenthood's funding!
Don't give up!
Max McGuire
Advocacy Director
Conservative Daily
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