Trump administration sets deadlines for Title X recipients to separate abortion from other services

The Trump administration took another step forward on Friday with a new rule that forbids Title X recipients from referring for or committing abortions.

With objections being raised against the rule, including a lawsuit aimed at blocking the policy change and Planned Parenthood vowing to leave the Title X family planning program, the Department of Health and Human Services sent notices to Title X recipients detailing the timeline for making the necessary changes.

If the facilities plan to continue receiving Title X funds, they must state their intentions and plans for complying with the rules to the government by August 19. They must show that they are indeed attempting to comply with the new rule forbidding referring for or committing abortions by September 18. They then have until March 2020 to physically separate their office spaces and health care exam rooms from the facilities that commit abortions.

Title X is the federally funded program that distributed nearly $290 million in the fiscal year 2017 in grants to states for family planning. Under the Trump administration that funding increased to about $400 million. Nearly four million women receive health care through Title X including basic care. However, as Live Action News previously noted, despite media spin, most of those individuals are not getting their Title X services through Planned Parenthood.

The new rule includes additional changes such as financial separation from clinics that commit abortions, making abortion counseling optional instead of routine practice, and limiting which employees are allowed to discuss abortion with patients.

READ: 5 facts the media isn’t telling you about Planned Parenthood’s Title X funding

Taxpayer Funding of Abortion at Planned Parenthood

The Hyde Amendment prevents federal dollars (which comes from taxpayers) from being used to pay for abortions. When Title X funds are given to facilities that commit abortions, those facilities claim that the money is not used towards abortions, however, money is fungible. Any money given to an abortion-committing facility helps to pay salaries of the abortionists and cover the cost of rent and other expenses of the facilities in which the abortions are committed.

The Trump administration expects conservative states to accept the new rules while more liberal states to fight them. The state of Washington’s health department has said it will no longer accept Title X grants for its clinics, however, it has not filed the formal paperwork. In fact, an HHS representative told Modern Healthcare that they “have not received official notification from any grantee that they are refusing Title X funds.”

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