By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
U.S. Congressman Mike Pence and 122 co-sponsors have introduced legislation designed to prohibit the distribution of Title X funds to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
“It is morally wrong to end an unborn human life by abortion,” said the pro-life lawmaker from Indiana about the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act. “It is also morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use them to promote abortion at home or abroad.”
Pence’s bill will not reduce the total amount of funds available for family planning, but will block funding to organizations that perform abortions. Although federal law prohibits the distribution of funds to abortion providers, loopholes in the law allow Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics to accept Title X money as long as it’s not used to fund abortions. However, critics say the funds only free up other assets that clinics can use to enhance their lucrative abortion business.
“Last year, Planned Parenthood received more than $363 million in revenue from government grants and contracts,” Rep. Pence said in a statement. “During that same time, they performed an unprecedented 324,008 abortions. The largest abortion provider in America should not also be the largest recipient of federal funding under Title X.”
If passed in a House that is now largely pro-life, the legislation could cost Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics millions in federal aid.
“The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act will . . . ensure that abortion providers are not being subsidized with federal tax dollars,” announced Pence.
This bill is just one of several scheduled to be introduced in the early weeks of the 112th Congress that are designed to eliminate or drastically reduce the amount of tax payer money that finds its way into the hands of abortion providers.
Also on the agenda is the repeal of ObamaCare which also contains provisions that will allow federal funds to be used by clinics such as Planned Parenthood. Although outright repeal of healthcare reform is unlikely, lawmakers have already vowed to chip away at the massive bill and are specifically targeting its abortion funding.
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