Biden’s Title X Rule Change To Fund Planned Parenthood Is a Disgrace to the Sanctity of Human Life
It should come as no surprise that the Biden Administration is reversing the Trump Administration’s Title X policies. Our actions ensured that no American taxpayer dollars were put toward the practice of abortion. None. Not ever. This is but one of the many steps the Biden Administration has taken to open the floodgates of abortion in the United States and around the globe with the reversal of the Mexico City Policy that President Trump and I strengthened over the last four years (and something the ACLJ has long championed).
The Trump Administration’s “Protect Life” regulation ensured that no federal funding, through the Title X Family Planning Program, was provided to organizations who claimed that abortion services were part of their “family planning” services. It kept intact funding for the good and commendable services that family planning organizations have provided for women since Title X was established in 1970 by President Nixon. Abortion did not fall under that umbrella of services in 1970, and it should not now, or ever. In fact, the Title X statute itself unequivocally states, “None of the funds appropriated under this title shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.” Abortion violates the sanctity of human life and should never be classified as “family planning.” It is family destroying.
The Trump Administration’s policy gave organizations a choice – stop performing abortions in order to continue receiving federal funding, or continue to perform abortions and lose that federal funding. Planned Parenthood’s response – which made clear its priorities – was to stop taking the $60 million dollars in federal funding it received every year and to continue to provide abortion services. In fact, Planned Parenthood disgracefully increased the number of abortions it provided in 2020 at the expense of the other women’s health services it long held up as the justification for federal funding in its public relations campaigns. This is proof that those funds were fungible all along. The Biden Administration’s reversal will now ensure that $60 million worth of American tax dollars, and likely more, will again be sent to Planned Parenthood every year to continue to fund their shameful program of providing abortions.
Planned Parenthood has claimed in the past, and will continue to claim, that its abortion services are paid for using private funds, rather than federal funds. But with an ally of abortion on demand at any time up to and the minute after delivery in President Biden and a pro-abortion, radical Left Congress, they no longer have to maintain this charade. It will have all the resources it needs to perform abortion-on-demand and your tax dollars will pay for them.
Planned Parenthood’s own reports further clarify its shifty accounting – the amount it spends on abortions has increased steadily for the last decade, while the other services it provides have decreased. Any federal funding directed to Planned Parenthood will be used to fund abortions because it is a powerful political organization dedicated to consolidating its political power first at the cost of human life, not an organization dedicated to women’s health or family planning. That is why the Trump Administration fought hard to defund Planned Parenthood from all federal monies.
But this fight is far from over. The ACLJ is actively engaged in filing amicus briefs in Title X cases and will be filing formal public comments with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the Title X rule change. The ACLJ also continues to work with numerous state legislatures to help draft legislation, provide legal advice, and give testimony concerning innovative pro-life legislation.
From the Trump Administration to the Biden Administration, we have quickly moved from the most pro-life Administration in history to the least in spite of the fact that a clear majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars to fund abortions. This is why elections matter. If you understand that the right to life matters, then we must elect representatives who will champion the sanctity of human life, not disgrace it. After all, life is one of our most important unalienable rights.