The Tablet Staff

On July 15 the Department of Health and Human Services notified family planning clinics that effective immediately per the Trump administration’s Protect Life Rule, they cannot refer mothers to abortion providers if they are recipients of Title X funding, which federally subsidizes abortion services. 

Title X supplies $260 million in grants each year to clinics, among them Planned Parenthood. According to Catholic News Agency, the organization represents 40 percent of all those who benefit from Title X. Under the 2018 Protect Life Rule, Planned Parenthood is expected to lose $60 million in funding.

“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 fun,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony List.

According to Catholic News Agency, beginning in March 2020 abortion facilities will no longer be allowed to locate their services in buildings with family planning clinics that receive Title X federal funding.

Up until 1993, abortion providers were not eligable to receive Title X funding. Since the Clinton administration, abortion clinics have remained eligible for federal funding. 

On July 11, in a 7-4 decision the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a stay that would have blocked the Protect Life Rule. The court also stated that even as legal cases challenging it proceed, the rule can still take effect. 

Susan B. Anthony List released a statement on the court ruling, saying it was “confident that the Trump administration will ultimately prevail and grateful that, in the meantime, the Protect Life Rule can immediately begin saving lives.