In a surprising move, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California is now actually upholding President Trump’s Protect Life Rule and allowing it to go into effect. The Protect Life Rule requires that facilities that receive Title X federal family planning funds cannot be housed in the same building as abortion service providers and cannot refer for abortions. This rule will eliminate at least $60 million in Title X family planning dollars from Planned Parenthood’s piggy bank. The rule was supposed to go into effect months ago, but lower courts had blocked its enforcement.
With the court removing the injunctions, the administration has moved forward in implementing the Protect Life Rule. Planned Parenthood promptly announced that they won’t agree to the new rules and will continue providing or referring for abortion services. The Department of Health and Human Services announced this week that it will give them more time to certify that they aren’t performing abortions. Planned Parenthood is still refusing to comply.
This clearly shows to their commitment to abortion – they would rather lose government funding than change their practices. The abortion industry has, for years, said that they just want to provide healthcare for needy women. The recent ouster of Leana Wen as the head of Planned Parenthood (for not maintaining a sufficient focus on abortion policy) demonstrates however their true intention is in fact abortion – not women’s healthcare.
Title X family planning funds were always intended to help low-income families with things like cancer screenings and sexually transmitted infection treatment. For many years the funds were not allowed to go to abortion providers at all – a rule the Supreme Court has already upheld.
During the Clinton Administration, this changed and the program has largely been used as a slush fund for the abortion industry ever since. The recent Ninth Circuit ruling is much more consistent with the legislative intent of Title X – as it begins to ensure that facilities receiving funds are truly helping families with health concerns. It adds another safeguard to ensure that our tax dollars are not being used to fund abortions.
This also is a sharp reversal for the 9th Circuit, affectionately known as the 9th Circus, because it has a reputation for routinely overruling state legislatures and overturning anything that does not agree with its liberal agenda. This difference is occurring largely because of several appointments to the court by President Trump. This new bent in the Court doesn’t reflect conservative or liberal politics but is rather about upholding the rule of law – what the courts were always intended to do.
We thank the Trump Administration for taking this bold step to draw a bright line between abortion and actual medical care—as well as for his ongoing commitment to appoint judges who uphold the rule of law.
We will continue to encourage the President and his administration to stand strong on this issue because all lives are precious and worthy of protection.
For life, 
Brittany Jones, Esq.
Policy Manager
On March 4, 2019, the Trump Administration published a new rule on the Title X Family Planning Program. Referred to as the “Protect Life Rule,” it ensures that recipients of Title X federal funds do not provide or refer for abortions.
For more than four decades, Title X grants have provided low-income and uninsured Americans with access to family planning and preventative health care services.
On Monday, all recipients of Title X dollars were required to submit a written statement to the Department of Health and Human Services confirming that they do not perform abortions and they will comply with the Protect Life Rule. Instead of doing so, Planned Parenthood announced it will withdraw from Title X.
What does this tell us about Planned Parenthood? Well, perhaps nothing new — we were already keenly aware of their unwavering support for abortion on demand. But this move does signal a new level of boldness by the nation’s largest abortion provider. It’s hard to hide behind a mantra of “our mission is to provide comprehensive health care” while thumbing your nose at funding to provide comprehensive family planning and other health care services!
It also reveals that the $60 million per year Planned Parenthood receives from Title X is insignificant to the organization. This notion is confirmed by our friends at the Heritage Foundation who analyzed the 2018 Government Accountability Office report which found Planned Parenthood received more than $1.5 billion in federal funding (including $1.2 billion from Medicaid) over a three-year period.
When compared to $500 million per year, $60 million is just a drop in the bucket. However, it’s $60 million less of taxpayer dollars being used to kill innocent human lives. And that’s certainly worth celebrating, even as we work to remove all taxpayer dollars flowing to abortion providers.
We can also celebrate the Trump Administration’s commitment to pro-life policies as demonstrated by the Protect Life Rule. The president’s actions to preserve and defend human life are in stark contrast to those of his predecessor, and many others who occupied the Oval Office before him. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, Title X taxpayer dollars will now return to their original intent and not be used to prop up the abortion industry. That’s a win for life!
For life,
Autumn Leva
Vice President of Strategy
In just a few weeks, the groundbreaking story of Abby Johnson will be in movie theaters. Unplanned is the true story of how one energetic, enthusiastic Planned Parenthood clinic director rose through the ranks before learning the truth about abortion and the forces driving the world’s largest abortion business.
The movie reveals how Johnson believed her job at a Planned Parenthood clinic was one of help and benefit to women in crisis situations. Recognized at one time as a Planned Parenthood “Employee of the Year,” her perception of abortion changed in an instant upon assisting in an ultrasound abortion procedure one day.
After seeing a baby in the womb fight for its life, she realized the truth and vowed to stop abortion.
From that point on she endured lawsuits, threats and ridicule from Planned Parenthood and other abortion activists because they knew that she was going to expose the truth about abortion and the business model they use to push it day in and day out. (A truth that you already know and a truth that Family Policy Alliance® and its allies work to share regularly both nationally and in state capitols.)
Thankfully, and through God’s grace, Johnson persevered and has now told her heartbreaking and courageous story across the nation. Having someone like Abby relate her personal experience has given momentum to legislation in state capitols across the nation that bans abortions at the point by which preborn babies can feel pain. Her work has also strengthened efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.
Regrettably, Congress has failed to decisively defund Planned Parenthood, which receives over $500 million in federal tax dollars every year. Despite the often-cited claim that abortion is only a fraction of the services they provide, Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen earlier this year inflamed the debate over taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood by proclaiming abortion to be a fundamental human right.
Taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood also persists despite the fact that the United States is becoming more pro-life with recent polling indicating 54% of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion.
Just last month, the Trump Administration finalized the Protect Life Rule, which prohibits distribution of Title X family planning funds to any entity with a facility that provides abortion or refers patients to other sources for abortion services. Representing a step in the right direction, the President and his administration are standing up to the abortion giant (really any abortion provider seeking taxpayer funding).
The Protect Life Rule would stop nearly $60 million of taxpayer funds from flowing to Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, led by the state of California, 21 states have filed a lawsuit to challenge the Protect Life Rule seeking to continue the flow of taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood.
We know the battle to end abortion is fraught with victories large and small, legal successes and setbacks and the constant ebb and flow of state and national politics. But through it all we also know the truth about abortion and why it is important to fight.
We are thankful for the faith and courage of people like Abby Johnson who share their experiences in ways that strengthen the pro-life movement. We are also thankful for leaders like President Trump and Vice President Pence who have advanced unapologetically pro-life stances.
Unplanned promises to be a seminal story of truth, grace, mercy and redemption. We pray it also serves as a productive and convincing vehicle to advance the pro-life cause. Find out when Unplanned is showing near you and go see it!
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
For Life,
Robert Noland,
Communications Manager
Planned Parenthood’s current flash ad campaign is chilling in its irony.
“Planned Parenthood Needs You. This is the fight of our lives. Donate Today”
We who oppose the mass extermination of our babies know, and have always known, we are in the fight of our lives. When we look back and see we’ve lost over 60 million babies, in just fifty years, we feel with profound intensity that we are in the fight of our lives. It is the fight to save our children. The fight to save our generation. And the next one. And the next one.
We also know it is our children who need us. It is our children who need their mothers to fight for them. So, exactly how has Planned Parenthood successfully convinced millions of mothers their child doesn’t need them—but Planned Parenthood does?
Planned Parenthood is a $1.46 billion corporation. A corporation is not a mother. A corporation does not have a heartbeat. A corporation does not feel. It cannot grieve the children whose lives were ended inside its doors.
A mother’s desire to protect her child is so strong, the instinct response in her brain is a scientifically observable fact. So, Planned Parenthood had two choices: it could silence the most powerful potential opposition to its mission (mothers), or it could get them on its side.
Planned Parenthood chose to get mothers on its side. It has worked over 100 years to overcome the deep and instinctual desire of women to fight for life. That’s why this campaign message might resonate with some women. “This is the fight of our lives.” It is an impressive statement, though sinister in its truth.
Planned Parenthood can’t crush the instinct of mothers to fight for life. But it can hijack that instinct and convince mothers they are fighting for lives—their own. (“This is the fight of our lives.”)
Planned Parenthood can lie to them, over and over for a century, that there is no child to grieve, and therefore no life at stake. Except the mothers’ lives, of course. Yet, these mothers aren’t fighting for their lives at all. Planned Parenthood is really calling upon mothers to fight for the right of a corporation to take the lives of their very own children…in exchange for money. Planned Parenthood doesn’t fight for life. It never has. It never will. It doesn’t want you to either.
God warns His people about those “who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness. . . .[who] take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!” (Isaiah 5:20-23(NASB)). God declares He will raise a standard against those who do evil, bringing the righteous together, in His name, to oppose the darkness, bring light, and restore rights!
Family Policy Alliance stands firmly against the spreading darkness of Planned Parenthood. We ask that you stand with us, to restore the most basic right of our children –the right to life. Today, you can stand for the right to life by clicking here and signing this petition, urging your Congressional representative to take one more step away from darkness by voting yes on the federal 20-Week Abortion Ban.
Stand with us to restore the proper positions of mothers –protectors of life. Sign the petition urging your Congressional representative to protect babies who are Born Alive. We must fight to protect this generation. Take action today, because this is indeed the fight of our lives.
SIGN THE LETTER to Congress, asking them to ban abortions after 20 weeks, the point by which preborn babies can feel pain.
SIGN THE LETTER to your U.S. Representative, asking him or her to stop infanticide by protecting babies born alive after botched abortions.
Fighting for Life with You,
Stephanie Curry, Esq.
Policy Manager
By Brittany Jones, Esq., policy manager for Family Policy Alliance®
You are probably aware that Planned Parenthood aborts well over 300,000 babies a year, they have been caught selling aborted baby body parts, and they are pushing their way into providing hormones for people to “transition to the opposite sex.” Now there’s yet another reason to oppose the government giving any more of our money to Planned Parenthood. They have been caught aiding child sex traffickers.
This information was brought to light in a LiveAction video showing a Planned Parenthood worker giving a pimp advice about how to evade parental consent requirements for medical services and advising him how soon after an abortion a girl could be sold for sex. In response to this video, instead of punishing those involved in aiding the sex trafficker and training their employees to recognize sexual abuse and trafficked victims – Planned Parenthood began teaching their employees how to recognize when they were being recorded. Former Planned Parenthood staffers have even said that reporting sex trafficking & sexual abuse was discouraged, when in fact in most states “health care providers” are mandatory reporters of sexual abuse.
Research shows that Planned Parenthood has repeatedly and flagrantly ignored mandatory reporting laws. A study of survivors of human trafficking found that forced or coerced abortions is a major problem in human trafficking, and that many of these coerced abortions are performed by Planned Parenthood. Notably the study reports one of the survivors saying, “At least one of my abortions was from Planned Parenthood because they didn’t ask any questions.”
LiveAction’s newest report, supported by their video work, details the pervasive culture in Planned Parenthood of covering up human trafficking and child sexual abuse. One video shows several former staff members of Planned Parenthood talking about how they were told to ignore clear signs of abuse, coercion, and the trafficking of young girls. A former Health/Title X Training Manager says, “Planned Parenthood actually allows victims of human trafficking to be victims of human trafficking. And they’re ok with that.” All of this evidence is compounded by LiveAction’s newest video, detailing the stories of abuse of several young girls by older men, and Planned Parenthood’s complicity in covering up their abuse.
There are signs of hope in ending one of the largest taxpayer funded gravy trains that supports Planned Parenthood. Proposed Title X regulations would deny Title X grant funding to Planned Parenthood and other organizations that commit abortions or refer for abortions, but it also requires organizations that receive Title X funds to follow state mandatory reporting laws. This seems like common sense, but before this new rule, the Title X regulation merely suggested that Title X recipients follow the law.
Along with our state and national alliance, Family Policy Alliance has been pushing for Title X funds to be withdrawn from abortion providers and for an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s illegal practices for years. If you haven’t yet, thank President Trump and the Department of Health and Human Services for proposing this new regulation to Title X. This is a huge step in the right direction, but we must continue to urge Congress to completely defund Planned Parenthood. We are thankful for your partnership as we all continue to fight for the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.
As part of the coalition working to defund Planned Parenthood, Family Policy Alliance got great news late yesterday. Today, the Trump Administration will be announcing changes to the Title X program that will likely result in a reduction of about $60 million in taxpayer funding to abortion giant Planned Parenthood.
This victory is the result of lots of hard work by many, as well as thousands of pro-life Americans making their voice heard. In fact, Family Policy Alliance team members like you sent nearly 8,000 emails through our Action Center to President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, asking for this action to be taken. Thank you!
The Administration will soon issue new regulations that closely align with President Reagan’s regulations – prohibiting family planning funding from going to entities that engage in abortion-related activities. It will require clear physical and financial separation “between Title X programs and any program (or facility) where abortion is performed, supported, or referred for as a method of family planning.”
Currently 266 Planned Parenthood abortion centers are also federal Title X locations. Planned Parenthood would have to substantially revise how it operates to avoid cuts – something that most experts see as unlikely. Assuming they do not make necessary changes, funding would be diverted to other entities that are not engaged in abortion.
Committing more than 300,000 abortions each year is Planned Parenthood’s main claim to infamy. But Family Policy Alliance recently exposed another reason that Planned Parenthood shouldn’t receive a dime of taxpayers’ money – their work to push kids to change gender, permanently sterilizing and disfiguring otherwise healthy young bodies.
Please take a moment to thank President Trump and Secretary Azar for this bold and common-sense action. You can send your note in just seconds at our Action Center.
Thank you for your action that is saving lives!
The Family Policy Alliance Team
Your quick help is needed to urge President Trump to take an action that would end a portion (about $60 million) of taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood. Coincidentally, 60 million is also the approximate number of abortions in America since 1973 – a number that Planned Parenthood has added to more than any other abortion business.
Please click here to go to our Action Center and send your email in just seconds.
Or for more info, read on …
Last week, Family Policy Alliance joined with other pro-life organizations in submitting a letter urging the Trump Administration to revise Title X regulations.
For far too long, the Title X Family Planning Program has been integrated with abortion centers. Thus, the unified pro-life groups told the president that it is time to act swiftly to disentangle abortion centers from the Title X network. Doing so would reinstate President Ronald Reagan’s Title X regulations and would be consistent with President Trump’s pledge to defund Planned Parenthood and reallocate funding to alternative providers.
But pro-abortion activism is intense in Washington, D.C., and President Trump and Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, need to know that they have the backing of thousands of American voters.
Will you join with us and make your voice heard today?
Thank you for taking action, and please pass this along to others as well!
The Family Policy Alliance Team
As you may have read in national news stories, Illinois continues to go through one of the worst state budgetary crises in history. The financial mismanagement is so bad that it’s taken the state over three years to pass a budget. Three years!
Despite a looming “junk status” credit rating, pension plans not being paid out, and hundreds of state employees being laid off, lawmakers have made it a 2017 legislative priority to increase abortion funding.
House Bill 40, if signed by Governor Rauner, will allow Medicaid coverage of elective abortions and give state employees access to abortions under the state’s health insurance plans.
With what money, you may ask? In all likelihood, it will just add to the already overwhelming debt burden on Illinois taxpayers. After all, Illinois is already carrying $251 billion in unfunded liabilities for its state pension plans – plus another $15 billion dollars in other unpaid debt.
One thing is certain, the Left is intent on ensuring abortion remains funded no matter what funding crisis may be at hand.
Other states are taking similar steps to protect Planned Parenthood’s resources in advance of the Republican healthcare bill. For example, the governor of Oregon has pledged to sign what will be the most intrusive health insurance coverage law in the United States. HB 3391, which has already passed the legislature, requires insurance companies to provide – at no cost – for any person (citizen or not) the following: contraceptives without a prescription, vasectomies, abortions and gender-identity related health services.
Christian business owners in Oregon will be forced to cover sex-reassignment surgeries and abortions for their employees. And, because insurance companies would be forced to spread the cost of these “free” services over all insured, the reality is that every Oregonian will pay for them.
The good news is that many more states in the last few years have taken action to dramatically cut funding to Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses. It’s evidence of something we say often here at Family Policy Alliance: “Elections matter.” Thanks for your investment in FPA’s critical work to elect pro-life lawmakers. And most of all, whether you live in a pro-abortion or a pro-life state, thank you for making your voice heard in support of life!
TAKE ACTION – Speaking of at last ending Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer-funded gravy train, if you haven’t yet asked the Senate to make sure any Obamacare replacement bill they put forward cuts Planned Parenthood funding, please take just a few seconds to send an email to them instantly through our action center here.
Your voice is needed to cut millions in funding to abortion giant
Planned Parenthood’s top officials – who have enriched themselves at the expense of aborted babies and fleeced taxpayers – know the country is growing weary of funding their abortion fiefdom.
The desperation of the nation’s leading abortionist became clear this spring, when Planned Parenthood poured more than $730,000 into the special election for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. It was an effort to elect Jon Ossoff, a die-hard abortion supporter. But it was also a play to send a message to Congress to not cut the more than $500 million of taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood.
But then Jon Ossoff lost – thanks in part to your support that allowed Family Policy Alliance to turn out pro-life voters. And suddenly, the message to Congress is that Planned Parenthood’s marketing isn’t selling so well to voters these days.
It also draws into question the ethics of a group – which gets a huge share of its budget from Congress – spending enormous sums to elect the very members that control those purse strings.
Now members of Congress are coming under enormous lobbying pressure from Planned Parenthood and a host of liberal allies. That’s because the Obamacare-repeal bill would stop funding to Planned Parenthood for the next year.
As pro-lifers, this is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for – to stop sending more than half-a-billion dollars to an organization responsible for hundreds of thousands of abortions every year. But to get this bill across the finish line, YOUR help – your voice – is needed! Here’s what you can do:
- Send a message to your two U.S. senators, urging them to support a repeal of Planned Parenthood funding.
- Please share this message with as many friends as possible. To overcome the power of the abortion lobby, it will take an enormous outcry from citizens who care about protecting life.
Thanks for making your voice heard!
The Missouri Legislature pulled funding for Planned Parenthood from the state Medicaid budget. An amendment restricting $10.8 million in Medicaid reimbursements goes into effect July 1.
The language says Medicaid funds may not be disbursed to persons or entities that “perform or induce abortions, or encourage or refer for abortions which are not necessary to save the life of the mother.”
Joe Ortwerth, executive director of the Missouri Family Policy Council, one of Family Policy Alliance’s 40 state allies, said women will still receive care they need – there are 24 qualified health care centers compared to just 14 Planned Parenthood facilities.
“The 2018 budget also makes clear that the State of Missouri remains committed to providing maternal health care services to low-income women,” Ortwerth said. “The budget includes a $14 million appropriation to the Show-Me Healthy Babies Initiative. That program provides health insurance coverage for pregnant women and their children in families which are not eligible for Medicaid and cannot obtain health insurance coverage.”
Family Policy Alliance is proud of the hard work state ally Missouri Family Policy Council has done to get defunding pushed through. We’ll continue to work with other state groups and Congress to defund Planned Parenthood.