One of the unfortunate things about having a president whose Twitter war with a dead guy is sucking all the oxygen out of the media atmosphere is that there a lot of good things happening across the federal government. One of the biggest happenings is that for the first time we have an administration that is unashamedly pro-life. Unlike his predecessors, Trump has ensured that pro-lifers are not merely a prop. Vice President Mike Pence has appeared at all three March for Live gatherings since this administration took office. Last year, President Trump became the first president to televise a life address to the crowd. In the past, presidents have been too busy to do this.

While a lot of folks are focused on the unsuccessful attempts in Congress to defund Planned Parenthood–something that is nearly impossible so long as we continue electing pro-abort Republicans–Trump’s Department of Justice has been doing some heavy lifting in court to defend the ability of states to regulate abortion, just last week they won a major battle in the Sixth Circuit defending an Ohio law that did defund Planned Parenthood (see 6th Circuit Kneecaps Planned Parenthood And Shows Why President Trump’s Judges Are Vital), and Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services has been working hard to rewrite grant guidelines to keep abortionists from subsisting on federal transfer payments.

One of the big targets of the administration is the $286.5 million Title X family planning program. To that end, HHS rewrote the grant requirements to prevent any abortion provider from participating and they used a Reagan administration that has been tested in the Supreme Court as the vehicle (see Trump Administration Will Use A Reagan-Era Rule To Strike At Planned Parenthood’s Federal Gravy Train):

The rule change requires that any organization receiving Title X funds and providing abortions use a separate facility for family planning and the staff at the Title X clinic cannot be employed by the same business unit that performs abortions.

This is how the abortion mafia is spinning it:

On May 3, HHS begins to implement new rules for #TitleX grants — unless they are blocked by the courts.

Our analysis finds the changes will significantly impact the network of eligible providers and limit access to family planning for low-income people. https://t.co/QQCTuxqpoM pic.twitter.com/G2P62pPSKK

— KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) (@KFF) March 21, 2019

This is what the crazies are saying:

Strongly support the more than 360 #TitleX clinics in California that provide quality sexual and reproductive health services to more than 1,000,000 low-income and uninsured patients across our state each year. The Trump-Pence Title X regulations must be blocked. #SaveTitleX. pic.twitter.com/i4EvkwwMkr

— Rep. Ted Lieu (@RepTedLieu) March 20, 2019

This rule is under attack by a coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia in the courts. They are probably going to lose and now they are trying to package the loss as a political weapon.

Some Democratic states plan to withdraw from the main federal family planning program if they can’t win a court challenge to stop the Trump administration from steering the money away from health providers who offer abortions or make abortion referrals.

Oregon and Washington already have said they would opt out of the Title X program, which steers $286.5 million for birth control and reproductive health services for low-income women, if the new rules take effect in early May. Maryland could soon join them, and other states may follow. They say the new restrictions would undermine medical care for patients, and, in some cases, violate state laws.

Sanity check. When was the last time a Democrat turned down a federal handout?

This isn’t going to happen. The states that are claiming that they will fund Planned Parenthood on their own are lying. They won’t. The bill is just too large for any state to suck up the loss. And they all know it:

Should courts decline to grant an injunction, these states currently on the fence will be forced to choose between a set of options they see as unacceptable.

“It will be very difficult for states to turn away federal money, especially states with high rates of STIs and high rates of teen pregnancies,” Alina Salganicoff, the director of women’s health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said.

“The ones who walk away will have fewer resources and they’re going to have to either figure out a way to get state funds to subsidize those services or make cutbacks. And the ones that accept the money will be faced with disqualifying some of their providers, particularly those that provide abortion services.”

They might withdraw during the 2020 election so they can claim that Trump doesn’t care about women’s health, but I doubt that very many voters are going to go into the voting booth torqued over their state refusing to provide this unnecessary program because they weren’t able to kill babies with the money.

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