As his days in office came to a close in late December, the Obama administration worked tirelessly to protect Planned Parenthood from those who would soon take over congress.
Under the Obama administration, the regulation was designed to ensure abortion providers could continue to collect Title X money.
Federal funds generally cannot be used to pay for abortions, but it’s reported that a portion of Title X money does, in fact, go to abortion providers.
Since 1970, the federal government has made grants available under Title X of the Public Health Service Act, for organizations who provide family planning services. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, it’s the only federal program “focused solely on providing family planning.”
As of 2011, an estimated 25 percent of all Title X funds go to Planned Parenthood affiliates every year. The Obama administration and the democratic pro-choice agenda meant that their interest in the final days was solely to put things in place that would safe-guard that funding for organizations who provide abortion. They did so by instating the HHS regulation, which essentially took the federal grant “spending power” out of the hands of state legislatures.
On Thursday, Senate voted to overturn the Obama administration’s regulation. Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaker which will move this bill to Congress.
The goal is not to eradicate Planned Parenthood, but rather to block Planned Parenthood from accepting the hundreds of millions of dollars it receives annually from the federal government (roughly $500 million).
The Vice President’s tie-breaking vote overturned the December HHS regulation, and lifted restrictions on states’ ability to allocate or deny federal grants to family planning organizations. With the bill now overturned, individual states would have the option to deny public funds and federal grants to Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics as they see fit.
The legislation has not yet been signed by the President, but Pence’s vote is a good suggestion that the White House supports it. The overturning of the HHS regulation doesn’t mean much for Planned Parenthood right away. It does, however, mean that future legislative action against abortion providers is inevitable.
The milestone has been marked as a big victory for many in the pro-life community who see the tie-breaking vote against abortion providers as a real sign of hope and progress.
“Life is winning in America,” as Mike Pence said at the March for Life. “And today is a celebration of the progress that we have made in the cause.”
