Promise Kept: President Trump’s Protect Life Rule Stops Title X Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Industry Led by Planned Parenthood

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2018
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley
[email protected] | 202-223-8073

Plurality of Americans Support New Rule Which Will Not Cut Family Planning Funding by a Dime

Washington, D.C. – The Trump administration this afternoon released text of the proposed Protect Life Rule to redirect Title X family planning program funds away from the abortion industry. The rule advances President Trump’s promise to stop taxpayer funding of abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood. A poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates on behalf of SBA List released today finds a plurality (48%) of likely voters support the “Protect Life Rule.”

Tonight, President Trump will give the keynote address at Susan B. Anthony List’s 11th annual Campaign for Life Gala at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The event will be live-streamed online beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.

SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser released the following statement in response to the announcement of the Protect Life Rule:

“We thank President Trump for keeping his promise to disentangle taxpayers from the abortion business. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business, is responsible for more than 300,000 abortions a year and has been receiving $50-60 million in Title X taxpayer funds annually. The Protect Life Rule 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 – without reducing family planning funding by a dime. A plurality of Americans support President Trump’s action to help stop taxpayer funding the big abortion industry led by Planned Parenthood.”

The poll on the “Protect Life Rule” was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates. The poll found that 48% of Americans support the “Protect Life Rule” while 40% oppose. 12% were undecided. The poll surveyed 1,000 likely general election voters nationwide with a margin of error of +/-3.1%.

The exact wording of the question asked was, “President Reagan instituted a policy that taxpayer funds could only go to family planning clinics that do not perform or refer for abortions. Do you support or oppose reinstating this policy?”

Setting the Record Straight: 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).

Earlier this month 85 national and state pro-life groups, 41 U.S. Senators and 153 U.S. Representatives called on President Trump and HHS Secretary Alex Azar to issue new Title X regulations. A recent Marist poll found that six in ten Americans oppose the use of taxpayer funding for abortion.

Susan B. Anthony List and its partner super PAC, Women Speak Out spent more than $18 million in the 2016 election cycle, visiting more than 1.1 million homes in battleground states to defeat Hillary Clinton and maintain a pro-life Senate. SBA List is dedicated to pursuing policies and electing candidates who will reduce and ultimately end abortion. To that end, SBA List emphasizes the education, promotion, mobilization, and election of pro-life women. SBA List is a network of more than 630,000 pro-life Americans nationwide. 

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