The Truth On Trump’s New Title X Regulations

Patriot Academy Alumnus, Frank Alegria

Recently, the Trump administration released its “Protect Life Rule,” a partial reinstitution of the 1980’s statutes put into effect by former president Ronald Reagan. Notable conservatives across the nation, who have been calling for the renewal of such measures, were well pleased with the announcement, with Live Action calling it,

“a critical first step toward dismantling… taxpayer dollars that help fuel Planned Parenthood…”

Though the Trump proposal does not immediately defund abortion providers, the direct consequences of the order leaves them with an unavoidable choice and only two options. Entities receiving aid through Title X compliance must either drop funding from the Department of Health & Human Services to carry on with offering abortions and similar services, or cease such provision and comply with revised federal law to collect those subsidies.

The new directive dumps the current mandate that Title X organizations must inform patients of possible abortion providers, and restricts them from directly referring individuals to institutions providing such services. It furthermore prohibits the financial and physical co-location of family planning entities and clinics which offer abortions, closing a regulatory loophole opened by the Clinton administration and subsequently utilized largely by Planned Parenthood itself.

Leading staff and members of the abortion industry have not yet fully indicated their intent to comply with the new regulations as of yet. Should they refuse to do so, rough estimates calculate Planned Parenthood alone losing up to 15 percent of federal assistance, a major blow to its finances. Resulting freed-up funds will be redirected to the many, smaller, local Title X organizations across the nation, such as community health care centers who offer contraceptives, counseling, and other related pregnancy prevention services, but not abortions.

Quite fortunately for conservatives, there won’t be much, if any, legal basis for overturning these new regulations. Being very much akin to the statutes unsuccessfully challenged by pro-choice activists during the Reagan and Bush administrations, it is more than likely the same thirty year old legal precedent set by the courts during that judicial test will apply to the Trump proposal being issued today.

All in all, this is a huge win for the pro-life cause throughout America. For the first time in over three decades, actual efforts have been undertaken within the executive branch to cut critical funding to the abortion industry.

No longer will abortionists have the power to hide behind the title of “health care provider” as a cop out from legal consequences. Nor will they have the opportunity to distort regulations and frustrate the rule of law for long. This little order, whose effect will be maximized in the years to come, will help save many babies all across the nation, prevent the detrimental traumatic effects mothers would have had after abortion, and affirm that those in authority recognize the sanctity of life once more.