Planned Parenthood announced this afternoon that the organization will withdraw from the Title X federal family planning program, after the Trump Administration implemented restrictions surrounding abortion referrals for those receiving money from the federal program. The organization will lose about 60 million dollars per year by withdrawing from the program.
The Trump Administration’s rule forbids clinics which receive Title X funding from referring women for abortions, doubling down on the President’s promise that taxpayer dollars will have no hand in funding abortions.
Planned Parenthood officials, after the Trump Administration backed them into a corner, erupted on Twitter, claiming that the administration forced them to leave the program:
Today, the Trump admin is forcing us out of the Title X program — our nation's program focused on family planning, of which we serve 40% of patients. This is a *direct attack* on Planned Parenthood and on our health and rights, and we will not stand for it. #StandWithPP #ProtectX pic.twitter.com/WRMvzGafNq
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) August 19, 2019
But the administration did not force the organization to withdraw, Planned Parenthood simply had to comply with the rule that employs the same principle as the Hyde Amendment: protecting taxpayers from funding abortion.
Americans United for Life, the nation’s first and largest pro-life legal organization, called Planned Parenthood on its move to de-prioritize real healthcare for women:
“It’s a great day for women’s health in America. Planned Parenthood is America’s deadliest nonprofit, and the news that they’re refusing to accept taxpayer funds to target vulnerable women is a good thing for women's health. Women deserve the chance to live empowered, full lives that are free from the harms that Planned Parenthood poses through abortion and abortion-focused services. Women who need true healthcare will have their needs met by authentic and eager healthcare providers across America,” President and CEO of AUL Catherine Glenn Foster said in a release.
This move by the Trump Administration not only protects taxpayers, but forced Planned Parenthood, an organization that claims to champion women’s health, to choose between abortion and healthcare. Their move to forego the federal dollars proves what we already knew, that Planned Parenthood’s number one priority is taxpayer-funded abortion.