Rep. Black: Proposed HHS rule would force states to fund Planned Parenthood

As Live Action News has previously covered, a new rule proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services could prevent states from blocking Title X funding to abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood. Earlier this month, Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee called out the proposed rule as another backdoor maneuver by the Obama Administration to keep the money flowing to Planned Parenthood.

In an opinion piece published by Fox News on Tuesday, Black elaborated on her criticism of the proposed rule.

Black began by exposing the close ties between the current administration and the nation’s leading abortion business…

…President Obama became the first sitting President to address Planned Parenthood’s annual fundraising gala… Last year, the White House praised Planned Parenthood’s “high ethical standard” even as it was implicated in the heinous trafficking of baby body parts. And more recently, we learned from Planned Parenthood’s own annual report that the organization saw an increase of $25 million in taxpayer funding, while the total number of medical services provided dropped by more than 10 percent during the same timeframe.

Black quipped that due to the influence Planned Parenthood holds over the government, Cecile Richards might as well be on the White House payroll.

In Black’s home state of Tennessee, community health centers, which are eligible to receive the Title X funding, have been identified in every county, she says. Thus, funds could be redirected away from Planned Parenthood, while still providing care for “underserved women and families.”

However, if enacted, the new rule “would undermine such state laws, dictating exactly how states must choose recipients for these grants,” says Black.

She went on to call out the blatant use of biased sources in support of the new rule. The Department of Health and Human Services cites research from the Guttmacher Institute six times in the proposed rule. As Black notes, the Guttmacher Institute “was formerly an entity housed within Planned Parenthood Federation of America and is even named after a former Planned Parenthood President.”

Black reports that she is currently gathering co-signers on a letter from members of Congress expressing opposition to the proposed rule, and plans to use the power of Congress, as well as the strength of the pro-life movement, to defeat the rule.

She concludes, “As hearts and minds are reached with the truth about the brutality of abortion and Planned Parenthood’s disregard for the most innocent among us, laws will continue to change and lives will be saved – a last-ditch administrative edict notwithstanding.”