Proposal targets U.S. funds for abortion providers
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is proposing a far-reaching change in the distribution of Title X family-planning funds that would make clinics that provide abortion services or referrals ineligible for the federal funding.
The move would potentially defund Planned Parenthood by millions of dollars.
Under the proposal filed Thursday and announced Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services, the $260 million program would require a “bright line” of physical and financial separation between Title X services and providers that perform or support abortion services or refer to abortion as a method of family planning.
These requirements are similar to those that were in place, although not enforced, during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Unlike the Reagan regulation, the proposal will not prohibit counseling for clients about abortion. It does, however, take away the requirement that providers offer pregnant women the opportunity for “neutral” and fact-based counseling regarding pregnancy termination unless she indicates she does not wish to receive such information.
Neither the White House nor Health and Human Services would comment publicly on the proposal, which was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for an interagency review. But anti-abortion activists received a briefing by phone from administration officials Friday and were quick to praise the measure as evidence of Trump’s commitment to their cause.
Jeanne Mancini, president of the anti-abortion group March for Life, praised the administration in a statement Friday for taking action to direct taxpayer dollars to centers that do not promote or perform abortions.
“This money will now be redirected to comprehensive family health and planning centers that don’t perform abortions and understand that abortion is not health care,” she said. “The pro-life grass roots will be pleased to see President Trump deliver on yet another pro-life promise, and we look forward to continued progress [in] restoring a culture of life here in the United States.”
Trump has delivered on several top priorities for abortion foes since taking office. He has appointed several judges with a history of opposition to abortion to federal appellate courts, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. He reimposed a provision that bars federal funds from going to groups overseas that provide abortion referrals, which is known as the Mexico City policy. He signed legislation that allows states to withhold federal Title X funds from facilities that provide abortion services.
And his administration has attempted to curtail the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, which funds comprehensive sex education programs that can include information about abortion.
Many family planning experts, by contrast, said the plan could deprive Americans of access to the services they need to prevent unintended pregnancies.
Title X-funded health centers provide several basic services such as cancer screenings, birth control, screenings for sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy testing and well-woman exams. While the changes do not affect the level of funding the government is providing, there has been a lot of alarm about how difficult it would be for smaller, community-based providers to absorb the vast number of patients served by Planned Parenthood.
The organization — which receives $50 million to $60 million in Title X funds and serves an estimated 41 percent of the 4 million patients who receive care through the program — is by far the largest recipient of the grants.
The policy would have ripple effects far beyond Planned Parenthood. Susan Buchanan, chief executive of the Boulder Valley Women’s Health Center, said in an interview Friday that it “puts us in the position of having to make a Hobbesian choice” of having to choose between the 90 percent of the clinic’s patients that get a range of services from the clinic and the 10 percent that receive abortions.
The center is the only Title X recipient in Colorado that provides abortions, and the funding accounts for $550,000, or roughly 20 percent, of its annual budget.