Anti-abortion activists cheered reports Friday that President Donald Trump is moving to prohibit federally funded family planning clinics from discussing abortion or sharing space with abortion providers.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1991 that President Ronald Reagan had authority to issue a similar rule, although it never took effect.
The federal government spends about $260 million a year to support family planning programs for roughly 4 million women.
The so-called Title X program currently requires abortion providers like Planned Parenthood to keep those funds separate from money used to provide abortions.
But Trump would take that one step further.
“The new regulations will draw a bright line between abortion centers and family planning programs — just as the federal law requires and the Supreme Court has upheld,” Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins said in a statement.
“Planned Parenthood and other abortion centers will now have to choose between dropping their abortion services from any location that gets Title X dollars and moving those abortion operations offsite. Either way, this will loosen the group’s hold on tens of millions of tax dollars,” he added.
The proposal to impose what opponents term a “gag rule” — even before the proposed regulation was made official — brought swift condemnation from abortion-rights supporters.
“In short, a gag rule would keep women from having full information about ALL of their options, and from getting the best health care possible,” tweeted Dr. Jen Childs-Roshak, president of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.
Planned Parenthood Action maintains that the order would block 41 percent of women served by Title X who use Planned Parenthood for birth control, cancer screenings, and other medical services.
“.@realDonaldTrump has said from day one he wants to control women,” the organization tweeted. “He & @SecAzar are making it official government policy by blocking patients from care at Planned Parenthood, allowing doctors to withhold abortion info from patients, & putting women’s health at risk.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a longtime foe of abortion, said Friday on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that the supposed separation between abortion and other services when it comes to federal funds is a sham.
The federal government indirectly funds abortions because abortion providers share space and staff that are eligible for the money.
It is not substantially different than if the federal government paid directly for abortions, Huckabee said.
“For the Democrats, getting a taxpayer-funded abortion or an abortion at all is the holy grail. It’s more important than life itself.”
“For the Democrats, getting a taxpayer-funded abortion or an abortion at all is the holy grail,” he told guest host Raymond Arroyo. “It’s more important than life itself.”
Huckabee said he is not concerned about the inevitable legal challenges that will follow.
“It may get thrown out at the 9th Circuit [Court of Appeals] out in California, where the wackos run the bench,” he said. “But I think, ultimately, at the Supreme Court, it will stand up, because taxpayers have no obligation to kill babies. We just don’t.”
Trump’s action comes two weeks after 86 anti-abortion organizations sent a letter urging it.
“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,” March of Life President Jeanne Mancini said in a statement.
“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,” Mancini said.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Council, praised Trump, saying he “kept his promise to protect the lives of the unborn and to ensure the abortion industry is no longer supported by taxpayers. This is a positive step toward making the womb a safe place again.”
Monica Burke, a research assistant at The Heritage Foundation’s Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity, noted that the funds targeted by Trump are small potatoes compared to the $1.5 billion that Planned Parenthood received in federal reimbursements from 2013 to 2015. Most of that total, $1.2 billion, came from Medicaid programs jointly funded by federal and state governments.
Related: Why One Judge Is Still Presiding Over a Planned Parenthood Case
Efforts in Congress to cut off that funding have fallen short.
“The federal government has an obligation to not fund abortions with taxpayer dollars,” Burke said in a statement. “Requiring organizations like Planned Parenthood to maintain a strict financial and physical separation between taxpayer-funded Title X activities and abortions reinforces this commitment to the American public.”
Huckabee told Arroyo that the rule is a sign that Trump has delivered in a policy sphere where other Republican politicians have done nothing but talk.
“Up until Donald Trump, who’s had real moral clarity when it comes to the sanctity of life, the Republicans have been a party of wusses,” he said. They don’t want to take the fight.”
PoliZette senior writer Brendan Kirby can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.
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