Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on President Trump’s proposed Title X regulations:
The federal government’s Title X Family Planning program has always been prohibited from funding “programs where abortion is a method of family planning.”
Now President Trump is proposing regulations to enforce that rule, which has been ignored by recent presidents. And the reaction of the abortion industry, led by Planned Parenthood, belies their claim that they do not use taxpayer funds for abortion.
The Trump proposal would require “a bright line of physical as well as financial separation between Title X programs and any program (or facility) where abortion is performed, supported, or referred for as a method of family planning.”
This is perfectly consistent with the 1970 law establishing Title X, which made clear that abortion is not family planning. And it is also consistent with the will of the American people: polls have repeatedly shown that most are opposed to taxpayer funding for abortion.
If, as Planned Parenthood has always claimed, they do not use federal family planning funds for abortion, they should welcome this new regulation, as it would simply assure continued funding for their non-abortion services.
Instead, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Executive Vice President, Dawn Laguens, ominously warns that “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 pulls the mask off. It is Planned Parenthood admitting that all of their other services are so entangled with their abortion business that they cannot separate them, and thus cannot—or will not—prevent taxpayer funds from supporting their abortion business.
This proves our point: funding for Planned Parenthood is fungible, and taxpayer dollars are easily used to fund abortion, directly or indirectly. That violates Title X regulations, and President Trump is right to stop it.
Pro-abortion groups are claiming that the Trump proposal would also ban counseling about abortion—what they like to call a “gag rule.” The administration, however, says the new rule would not ban counseling. It would simply lift “the current, potentially illegal mandate” that requires Title X-funded projects to “counsel and refer for abortions. “
The new regulation would also require Title X recipients to “document their compliance with state reporting laws” when they encounter victims of sexual assault, incest or rape. This is critically important. Planned Parenthood has for years resisted reporting evidence of such abuses of under-aged girls by adult men, and pro-life groups have documented their failure to do so.
The Trump administration’s proposed regulations are a welcome effort to protect women and safeguard taxpayers.
