| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 20, 2019 |
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley [email protected] 202-223-8073 |
Panel of Judges Said Trump Administration Likely to Prevail on Rule Stopping Taxpayer Funding of Abortion in Title X
Washington, D.C. – A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today granted the Trump administration’s request to lift state and nationwide injunctions, allowing the Protect Life Rule to take effect while court cases proceed. Finalized earlier this year, the rule advances President Trump’s promise to stop taxpayer funding of abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood, who will no longer receive Title X funding if they choose not to comply.
The national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) celebrated the ruling in a statement:
“This ruling is a victory for President Trump and the majority of Americans who do not want to fund the abortion industry with their tax dollars,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “A strong majority of Americans have consistently voiced their opposition to taxpayer funding of abortion – it is even unpopular among Democrats and self-described pro-choice Americans. The Protect Life Rule simply draws a bright line between abortion and family planning, stopping abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood from treating Title X as their private slush fund without reducing funding by a dime. Similar regulations were upheld by the Supreme Court nearly three decades ago. We are encouraged by this news and confident the Trump administration will prevail.”
Represented by the Thomas More Society, SBA List has filed amicus briefs in support of the Protect Life Rule and the federal government in every case brought to date. The ruling comes as pro-abortion Democrats on the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing yesterday entitled “Protecting Title X and Safeguarding Quality Family Planning Care.”
A Marist poll in January of this year found that, by a double-digit margin, a majority of all Americans oppose any taxpayer funding of abortion (54 percent to 39 percent).
Under the Protect Life Rule abortion centers cannot serve as taxpayer-funded family planning centers (“co-location”). In addition, Title X locations cannot refer for abortion. The Protect Life Rule does not prohibit Title X providers from providing neutral, nondirective counseling about abortion and does not prevent anyone from obtaining Title X services. It does not reduce family planning funding by a dime. Instead, it directs tax dollars to Title X centers that do not promote or perform abortions, such as the growing number of community and rural health centers that far outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities. Similar regulations were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1991 in Rust v. Sullivan (500 U.S. 173).
SBA List is a network of more than 787,000 pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.
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