WND EXCLUSIVE
Court decision costs Planned Parenthood up to $60 million
Lets Trump administration's Title X Protect Life rule take effect
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a motion from abortion interests to restore a lower court order blocking the Trump administration’s Title X Protect Life rule.
The rule, which originated under President Reagan, requires federal Title X funding to go to facilities that do not provide abortion.
That cuts out Planned Parenthood, which in recent years has taken $50 million to $60 million of those funds.
The 3-0 decision to refuse to restore a district court judge’s order Thursday aligned with a three-judge panel’s decision in late June.
The 9th Circuit overturned the order of a federal judge in Washington.
Liberty Counsel said the rule will stop federal funding flowing to Planned Parenthood by approximately $60 million.
The organization explained: “The Department of Health and Human Services issued the rule to stop the flow of Title X federal funds to family planning facilities that perform abortions or do abortion referrals. This regulation means that clinics that receive federal family planning grants called Title X – which pay for birth control, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screenings – will not be allowed to be housed in the same buildings as those that also provide abortions.”
The rule applies to the $286 million a year that goes to low income families.
“Today’s decision in favor of the Protect Life Rule is a great victory for the Trump administration and for Americans who do not want to fund the murder of babies,” said Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver.
“Abortion is not family planning. It’s time to stop Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities from using Title X as their private blood money fund. I commend President Trump for his commitment to protect the sanctity of human life, the rights of conscience, and religious freedom by revising the regulations for the Title X family planning program.”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, added, “We are greatly encouraged to see the 9th Circuit rule in favor of allowing President Trump’s Protect Life Rule to take effect while it continues to be litigated.
“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. Without reducing Title X funding by a dime, 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. Similar regulations were upheld by the Supreme Court nearly three decades ago. This is wonderful news, and we are more optimistic than ever that the Trump administration’s case will succeed.”
A three-judge panel of the same court earlier earlier had made the same decision, and a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.
Two of three judges on the panel approved lifting an injunction that applied only to the state of Maryland.
Mayor De Blasio’s ‘tantrum’
WND reported New York City officials, ramping up the fight, will refuse $1.3 million in federal funding for public hospitals because its officials want staff members to promote abortion.
“This tantrum by [New York City Mayor Bill] de Blasio and other New York City hospital bureaucrats to forgo federal funds is driven by their absence of concern for human lives,” said Staver.
“There are people that truly need medical attention in those hospitals. However, it is ironic that doctors and nurses in the public hospital system ‘took an oath to protect and serve patients’ but city and state officials will do whatever necessary to murder unborn children and harm women. This is just another example that New York wants to become the world sanctuary for abortions,” he said.
De Blasio claims it’s a “gag rule.”
His state most recently adopted a Reproductive Health Act that, according to Liberty Counsel, “authorizes the murder of unborn babies up to the point of birth for any reason and revokes medical care for babies who are born alive after a failed abortion.”
“This new law also seeks to deny any recognition or protection for human beings before birth under any circumstances.”
The ruling comes even as pro-abortion House Democrats are promoting a bill to protect tax funding for their abortion industry supporters.
A Marist poll in January found that, by double-digits, a majority of Americans oppose any taxpayer funding of abortion.
