Voices for Life Is a blog dedicated to informing and educating the public on pro-life and pro-family issues.
Our focus is to protect the sanctity of all human life from conception until natural death. This includes protecting babies from abortion, fetal tissue experimentation, and embryonic research; and the general population from euthanasia, cloning, population control and human genetic engineering.
Last week, the Trump administration announced its intention to cut taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities. Yesterday, the proposal became official. The administration released a document outlining the proposed rule, which will go into effect after a 60-day waiting period, as is standard.
The new proposal will strip Planned Parenthood of approximately $60 million in annual Title X taxpayer dollars. Title X was enacted by Congress in 1970 to provide federal tax dollars for family planning, but banned funding for abortion.
“None of the funds appropriated under this title shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning,” the law stated.
Under the Trump administration’s new rules, Title X projects will not be allowed to refer women for abortions. Any organization that receives family planning funds will also be required to keep facilities where abortions are committed separate from facilities where family planning care is provided. Planned Parenthood, however, has tacitly refused to separate abortion from any of the other services it provides.
Similar regulations were put into place under the Reagan administration, but they were struck down when Bill Clinton, who supports abortion, was elected. There are differences between Reagan’s proposal and the Trump administration’s, however.
“Unlike the Reagan regulation, the proposal will not prohibit counseling for clients about abortion, but neither will it include the current, potentially illegal mandate that projects must counsel and refer for abortion,” a Trump administration official said.
“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.”
The proposal will also mandate Title X recipients to follow state and local laws on sexual abuse reporting — something that is a critical issue for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has repeatedly been caught covering up child rape and sex trafficking, systematically breaking the law by refusing to notify authorities of statutory rape and suspected human trafficking.
Time after time, Planned Parenthood behaves as if it is above the law, even at the expense of children who have been raped and trafficked. Now, in order to receive Title X funds, organizations will have to prove that they are complying with laws regarding child abuse.
“Title X projects shall comply with all State and local laws requiring notification or reporting of child abuse, child molestation, sexual abused, rape, incest, intimate partner violence, or human trafficking (collectively ‘State notification laws’),” the proposal declares. It also mandates that organizations receiving funds will have to provide stringent documentation in multiple areas to prove that they are not breaking any laws.
A new video just released from Live Action reveals that many pregnant women who contact Planned Parenthood facilities about their pregnancy options — adoption, for instance — are told that the only service the government-funded organization can offer them is abortion. In part one of this two part series, Live Action News will reveal what Planned Parenthood tells women who seek adoption services from the organization.
Live Action investigators contacted various Planned Parenthood facilities, some of which receive tax dollars from the federal family planning program known as Title X. According to requirements under Title X, projects that are funded must offer pregnant women several options regarding their pregnancies, including prenatal care and adoption.
The facility’s website acknowledges that if a woman is pregnant, she has three options to consider: “abortion, adoption, and parenting.” The website also suggests that “your local Planned Parenthood health center” has resources on adoption and the site tells women they can “get help finding adoption agencies in [her] area” through local Planned Parenthood facilities.
The abortion giant also claims (under the “adoption” option) to have “specially trained staff that can give you accurate information about all your options and other resources.”
What you will hear in the video below is how Planned Parenthood fails to offer Live Action’s investigators any of this — no adoption counseling, no adoption referrals, no list of adoption agencies, and no chance to speak with any so-called “specially trained staff” about the adoption option, despite online statements to the contrary. Instead, what you will hear is that the only service these staffers seem willing to offer (over the phone, at least) is abortion:
Pregnant, need help or know someone who does? National Hotline: Call 1-800-712-HELP or Text 'HELPLINE' to 313131. In Southeast Penna: Call or text 610-626-4006 If you or someone you know is suffering after abortion, confidential non-judgmental help is available. Call Project Rachel's national toll-free number 888-456-HOPE (4673) or visit hopeafterabortion.org.
By Claire Chretien Life Site News Vice President Mike Pence broke a tie in the U.S. Senate today to overturn an Obama-era regulation forcing states to give Title X money to organizations that commit abortions. The Senate voted 50 to 50 to overturn the abortion-facility-enabling regulation.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-AK, voted against allowing a vote on the bill. The Senate was tied at 50-50 on whether to allow a vote, so Pence broke the tie. Collins and Murkowski then voted against the bill, causing another 50-50 tie that Pence broke.
This was the first abortion-related vote in the Senate since the 2015 vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, according to the Susan B. Anthony List.
Title X money comes from the government to fund "family planning services," but technically not abortion. Pro-life advocates point out that government money Planned Parenthood receives helps the abortion-centered organization overall, and that such money is fungible.
Shortly before he left office, Obama pushed through an HHS regulation that essentially forces states to give Planned Parenthood Title X funding. Under this rule, states must give Planned Parenthood or abortionists Title X grants and may not choose to redirect those funds to comprehensive healthcare clinics.
On February 16, the U.S. House voted 230 to 188 to overturn this regulation. Congress is able to overturn it because of the Congressional Review Act, which allows it to undo such agency regulations within 60 legislative days.
Pro-abortion President Barack Obama has proposed a new rule that would essentially prohibit states from defunding the Planned Parenthood abortion business and a leading pro-life member of Congress is not happy about it.
The proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could prevent states from blocking Title X funding (federal dollars for family planning services) to abortion companies like Planned Parenthood.
“This latest stunt from President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services should surprise absolutely no one,” Rep. Diane Black told LifeNews.com
“We’ve known all along that the Obama Administration will go to untold lengths to protect its friends in the big abortion industry. After all, this Administration has previously used backdoor maneuvers to line Planned Parenthood’s pockets with Obamacare navigator grants and praised the abortion provider’s ‘high ethical standard’ even after it was caught trafficking in baby body parts,” Black said.
She continued: “Now, they have taken the unprecedented step of thwarting states’ rights with a shady proposed rule change that prevents states from funding the providers who will best serve their citizens. In the coming days, I intend to lead a letter expressing the deep concerns of Members of Congress on this proposal, but we won’t stop there. We must use the full force of Congress and the grassroots strength of the national pro-life movement to defeat this absurd rule and prevent the Obama Administration from acting unilaterally to carry out political favors and prop up a scandal-ridden abortion provider.”
Here’s an example of how Obama;s proposed rule would prevent states from revoking taxpayer funding for the abortion company Planned Parenthood.
Under current state law, the state of Tennessee doles out Title X funding provided by HHS to county health departments, who then determine appropriate sub-grantees. All 95 counties have identified community health centers and other providers aside from Planned Parenthood who meet all Title X eligibility criteria to receive this funding, effectively cutting off Planned Parenthood’s access to Title X funds in the state of Tennessee.
