The Trump administration made history this past week. For the first time ever, Planned Parenthood's Federal funding was redirected to pro-life women's healthcare centers that do not refer for or perform abortions. In total, 33.6 million was redirected from Planned Parenthood to these pro-life centers.
This is massive, but it is only the first portion of the funding that is being moved. When all is said and done, hundreds of millions will be shifted from abortion clinics to actual healthcare facilities.
This is all part of President Trump's "Protect Life" rule. For years, abortion clinics have gotten around the ban on Federally funded abortions by using clever accounting techniques. Instead of the Federal funding paying for the abortion procedure itself, they used these funds to pay the salaries for the doctors performing the abortion, buy the equipment used in the abortion procedures, and train the receptionists who scheduled the abortions. In reality, there is really no difference. Federal funds were being used to facilitate abortions.
President Trump said 'no more.' He gave abortion clinics until the end of last month to separate their abortion business otherwise they would lose access to hundreds of millions in Federal family planning grants.
Planned Parenthood decided instead to defy the President. And that is because they have a plan to get around it entirely. Right now, Democrats are marching forward with a spending bill amendment that would not only undo Donald Trump's "Protect Life" rule, but also restore all of Planned Parenthood's Federal funding!
They have spent millions lobbying Congress, pressuring Democrats to undo this new regulation. Now they are about to get exactly what they want!
As you know, Congress has to pass 12 appropriations bills every year in order to keep the government running. If even one of these bills failed to pass, then there is a government shutdown. One of those bills is the Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act.
This legislation governs almost the entire Federal health care budget, including Medicare disbursements. So, if this bill doesn't pass and HHS shuts down, millions of American seniors would lose access to medical care. That is why this bill is considered a 'must pass' piece of legislation. Republicans know it would be political suicide to even consider letting Medicare shutdown.
Democrats know this, so they have slipped an Amendment into this funding bill that would restore every single cent of planned Parenthood funding, and actually increase it even more! The amendment reads,
"The Secretary shall carry out section 1001 of the PHS Act solely in accordance with any regulations or other conditions or instructions established by the Secretary pursuant to the authority under section 1006 of the PHS Act that applied as of January 18, 2017, to grants and contracts awarded under section 1001 of the PHS Act..."
What does this mean? It means that the Trump administration would be forced to disburse Title X Family Planning funding according to the regulatory structure that was in place on January 18, 2017. That is two days before Donald Trump took the oath of office.
If this amendment survives and passes into law, then Obama's abortion funding rules would be back in effect. It would be like Donald Trump was never even elected...
This amendment is now in the bill. Democrats are claiming it is non-negotiable, and threatening to shut down the government unless Republicans agree to give Planned Parenthood all of its funding back!
For years, Republicans have promised to defund Planned Parenthood. But whenever it actually came time to vote, the GOP always had a convenient excuse for why they couldn't go through with it.
We finally have a President willing to honor his promise. He cut off hundreds of millions in funding to Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics. And for the first time, that funding is being redirected to pro-life healthcare clinics instead.
But if this anti-life spending amendment survives, it is all over. Not only would Planned Parenthood get their funding back, but they would actually see a funding increase too.
The only thing stopping Planned Parenthood from getting all of their funding back is the Republican Party. If they can find their backbone and protect the President's Executive Order, then Planned Parenthood will be cut off for good.
But if they cave... if they buckle... then all is lost.
That is why it is so important for you to put pressure on Congress right now!
Whatever you do, don't let them give up!
It is now or never!
Max McGuire
Advocacy Director
Conservative Daily
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