Trump Signs Anti-Abortion Planned Parenthood Bill Into Law, Defunding Could Begin Soon


President Donald Trump just signed a Planned Parenthood related bill that will allow states to withhold funding from organizations which offer abortions. Trump opponents have largely dubbed the executive order an “anti-abortion” mandate.

The resolution permits the withholding of taxpayer dollars from federal family planning programs which funnel the money to clinics which offer abortion services to patients. Before vacating the White House in January, former President Barack Obama ushered in a rule that banned states from yanking funds from Planned Parenthood and other abortion services providers, the Washington Post reports.

President Trump’s move, which delighted pro-life advocates, was made possible by the Congressional Review Act of 1996. The CRA permits lawmakers to effectively undo previously passed regulations by a simple majority vote. The rule allows lawmakers to nullify regulations which were passed within 60 days of the bill’s passage as long as the sitting president agrees with the action.

This is the 12th time that President Trump utilized the CRA to establish new rules and regulations, MSN reports. The bill passed by a narrow margin in the Senate in March after Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote.

Most of the bill signings by the president have been open to the press, but the Planned Parenthood rule reversal and an unrelated Labor Department bill, also signed today, were not. The bills were signed just after the United States Military dropped the “Mother of all Bombs” on ISIS caves in Afghanistan. The closed-door signing of the rules may have had a lot more to do with the dropping of the largest non-nuclear bomb on Afghanistan than it did with the controversial nature of the anti-abortion bill.

Attendees at the signing ceremony included the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Seema Verma, Concerned Women for America and Susan B. Anthony List representatives, one of the bill’s sponsors, Republican Tennessee Congresswoman Diane Black, and White House staffer Kellyanne Conway.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, said in a prepared statement that President Donald Trump’s signing of the Planned Parenthood related bill is simply another example of him delivering on a campaign pro-life promise.

“This week the pro-life movement had two huge victories: first, the swearing-in of Justice Gorsuch, and now, President Trump will undo former president Obama’s parting gift to the abortion industry,” Dannenfelser said. “We expect to see Congress continue its efforts to redirect additional taxpayer funding away from Planned Parenthood through pro-life health-care reform after the spring recess.”

President Trump signs legislation allowing states to deny funding to Planned Parenthood https://t.co/o9EhehAYqp

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 13, 2017

President Trump has not yet released a statement about the signing of the bills. He is expected to speak about the MOAB drop in Afghanistan later today and could also discuss the Planned Parenthood-related rule reversal as well.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan deemed the president’s signing of the anti-abortion bill a major victory for pro-life supporters.

“Taxpayers should not be forced to fund abortion, plain and simple,” Speaker Ryan said. “We remain united and steadfast in our commitment to life and religious liberty.”

While Title X funding is not permitted to cover the cost of abortions under long-existing federal law, it had been allowable for the taxpayer money to be sent to bolster clinics that do. The federal family planning funds can be used to help pay for birth control, tests and treatments of sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screenings.

What do you think about President Trump signing the Title X funding bill that allows states to stop taxpayer money from being used to help cover the cost of having an abortion?

[Featured Image by Steven Frame/Shutterstock]

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