Even with Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, the GOP has been unable to do what they’ve been promising for years – to finally do away with the taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and other health clinics that primarily exist to perform abortions. But where Congress has been unable to act, President Trump is ready to use his pen and phone to get things done. It was reported Friday that the Trump administration will reinstate a regulation not seen since the days of Ronald Reagan, which will at least partially limit the amount of money abortionists get from the public.
To be sure, Trump cannot “defund” Planned Parenthood with an executive order. To be frank, he can’t even come close, because abortion clinics get the vast majority of their taxpayer money through Medicare. To cut that spigot off at the source would require the passing of a federal law, which Congress seems unable or unwilling to do.
But what Trump can do is implement a regulation that will require abortion services to be divided, physically and thematically, from family planning activities that receive federal funding through Title X. This would have the effect of withholding certain funds from facilities or programs who refer patients to abortion services or offer counseling sessions that put abortion on the table as a viable option for prospective mothers. As The New York Times explains, the “policy is often described as a domestic gag rule because it bars caregivers at facilities that receive family planning funds from providing any information to patients about an abortion or where to receive one.”
You will not be surprised, of course, to learn that Planned Parenthood is fit to be tied over the regulation. Dawn Laguens, the executive vice president of the organization, said the Trump administration’s new rule was “outrageous” and “dangerous.” It is our rule of thumb to support anything that Planned Parenthood opposes, of course; we don’t see any reason why this should be an exception to that policy.
We were even more amused, though, by the following paragraph in the Times piece:
Doctors have also expressed alarm at the prospect of such changes to federal family planning rules. In a conference call this month, officials from the American College of Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said the policy would harm women’s health.
Dr. Hal Lawrence, the executive vice president and chief executive of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said during that call, “We don’t need the government interfering in the exam room, and the government should not be interfering in what women can know and what kind of options she should be given.”
Son, you don’t get to construct federally-funded health programs and then turn around and say, “government shouldn’t be involved.” This is what we have been TELLING you. This is why government-run health care is a bad idea. If taxpayers are footing the bill then, yes, the government CAN tell you exactly what should be happening in the exam room and our health care will be subject to the political winds. We get the feeling sometimes like these liberals who want universal healthcare ALSO want that healthcare to be free of conservative influence. Well, that’s not the way it works, guys.
We’re happy about this step taken by the Trump administration; and if it also wakes some people on the left up to the dangers of having federally-funded healthcare…well, so much the better!
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