President Donald Trump has officially rescinded a regulation that blocked states from defunding Planned Parenthood.
In the waning days of his presidency, Barack Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a rule that prohibited states from denying Planned Parenthood Title X funding, as certain states had instead put such money toward other community health centers.
That rule is now dead with the stroke of Trump’s pen.
Congress was able to pass a bill repealing that rule through the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which states that regulations can be rescinded by a majority vote of Congress within 60 legislative days of being issued. Trump signed that bill into law on Thursday.
Consequently, states are now free to siphon money away from Planned Parenthood and toward community health centers that don’t engage in abortions. Many states had been doing that after videos came to light exposing Planned Parenthood’s actions in selling dismembered baby-parts for profit.
Most of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding stems from Medicaid, but they do receive $60 million in Title X funding; meaning that the repealed regulation is a step in the right direction for the pro-life movement.
“Prioritizing funding away from Planned Parenthood to comprehensive health care alternatives is a winning issue,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, said in a statement. “We expect to see Congress continue its efforts to redirect additional taxpayer funding away from Planned Parenthood through pro-life health care reform after the spring recess.”
The Democrats, of course, are going ballistic that a scintilla of federal tax dollars could be denied from going to their sacred cow.
“Today guarantees that a woman’s ability to get lifesaving care, birth control and make her own healthcare decisions will all be on the ballot in 2018, and we will hold Republicans like Senator Dean Heller, who cast the deciding vote on this reckless measure, accountable,” said Lauren Passalacqua, spokeswoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Read this for more information on Planned Parenthood and why they should be defunded.