"JUDGE RULES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CAN DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD ABORTION BIZ" - Steven Ertelt, JUL 17, 2018 | http://www.lifenews.com/2018/07/17/judge-rules-trump-administration-can-defund-planned-parenthood-abortion-biz/
A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Trump Administration and its impending decision to defund the Planned Parenthood abortion business from the nation's Title X family planning program. The Planned Parenthood abortion company has multiple federal funding streams, but cutting off the taxpayer dollars it gets from Title X would zap its second largest source of federal funding.
At issue are new guidelines for Title X grants, which fund family planning programs across the country. In February, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services introduced a new grant application that prioritizes sexual risk avoidance strategies, including abstinence. That decision would leave abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood out of the funding equation.
Even though HHS is only in the grant-making phase of the process and has yet to formally deny funding to the abortion giant, Planned Parenthood went ahead and sued anyway. Planned Parenthood’s legal challenge claims the new guidelines in the Federal Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will put low-income patients at risk. The abortion group receives about $50 million to $60 million in taxpayer-funded Title X grants.
Today, a federal judge ruled Planned Parenthood filed it’s lawsuit prematurely before it had been defunded. “The Plaintiffs ask this Court to intervene before anything of legal effect has occurred,” wrote McFadden in a 38-page opinion. “Courts cannot review substantive objections to a non-final agency action, nor can they require formal rulemaking for change in agency procedure.”
Going further, McFadden said the department soundly argued that the policy change was about “how an agency decision will be made, and is not a final agency action itself.” Because of that distinction, Planned Parenthood does not yet have grounds for the agency’s policy to be reviewed, the judge wrote. “This announcement was simply a solicitation of offers, kicking off an application process that will result in legally binding contracts only after offers are accepted and grants are awarded,” McFadden wrote.
In February, Valerie Huber, acting deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Population Affairs at HHS, said their goal is to fund Title X programs that effectively teach sexual risk avoidance. “This is a program that’s important to the administration and we think its really important to make some meaningful changes to extend the coverage of the program,” Huber said.
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins slammed the lawsuit as based in “greed.” “Planned Parenthood and abortion vendors seem terrified that people will discover just how easy it will be to live a healthy life without them,” Hawkins said. “People make many medical choices that don’t include Planned Parenthood, and the Trump Administration is to be commended for attempting to redirect Title X dollars away from abortion vendors. … The greed of the abortion lobby is on display as once again they go to court to force taxpayers to fund their enterprise.”
Mallory Quigley, vice president of communications at Susan B. Anthony List, also criticized the abortion group for having an entitlement mentality. “Clearly they view the Title X Family Planning Program as their personal slush fund,” Quigley told NPR, “to which only they are entitled for propping up their massive abortion enterprise.”
There is little evidence that Planned Parenthood’s programs have reduced sexual health risks and teen pregnancies. In 2017, the Trump administration also cut millions of dollars in grants to Planned Parenthood through the failed Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. HHS spokesman Mark Vafiades told the New York Times last year that there is very little evidence that the program was successful. However, Planned Parenthood also is suing over those cuts.
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion business in America, aborting approximately 320,000 unborn babies every year. Its most recent annual report showed a record income of $1.46 billion, with about half a billion dollars coming from taxpayers.
Its sex education programs repeatedly have been questioned and rejected by concerned parents and school administrators across the country.
In February, CBS also highlighted a group of North Carolina parents’ concerns. They said Planned Parenthood’s “Get Real” curriculum “encourages sixth graders to feel ‘comfortable and ready’ for sex. The petition says the curriculum provides flash cards outlining proper condom usage, for ‘vaginal, oral or anal sex’ and recommends the usage of ‘non-microwavable saran wrap’ as a prophylactic for certain non-reproductive sex acts.”
In 2014, Live Action released an undercover video series showing Planned Parenthood employees encouraging young teens to participate in sado-masochistic sexual activities, including gagging, whipping, asphyxiation, shopping at sex stores and viewing pornography.
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At issue are new guidelines for Title X grants, which fund family planning programs across the country. In February, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services introduced a new grant application that prioritizes sexual risk avoidance strategies, including abstinence. That decision would leave abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood out of the funding equation.
Even though HHS is only in the grant-making phase of the process and has yet to formally deny funding to the abortion giant, Planned Parenthood went ahead and sued anyway. Planned Parenthood’s legal challenge claims the new guidelines in the Federal Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will put low-income patients at risk. The abortion group receives about $50 million to $60 million in taxpayer-funded Title X grants.
Today, a federal judge ruled Planned Parenthood filed it’s lawsuit prematurely before it had been defunded. “The Plaintiffs ask this Court to intervene before anything of legal effect has occurred,” wrote McFadden in a 38-page opinion. “Courts cannot review substantive objections to a non-final agency action, nor can they require formal rulemaking for change in agency procedure.”
Going further, McFadden said the department soundly argued that the policy change was about “how an agency decision will be made, and is not a final agency action itself.” Because of that distinction, Planned Parenthood does not yet have grounds for the agency’s policy to be reviewed, the judge wrote. “This announcement was simply a solicitation of offers, kicking off an application process that will result in legally binding contracts only after offers are accepted and grants are awarded,” McFadden wrote.
In February, Valerie Huber, acting deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Population Affairs at HHS, said their goal is to fund Title X programs that effectively teach sexual risk avoidance. “This is a program that’s important to the administration and we think its really important to make some meaningful changes to extend the coverage of the program,” Huber said.
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins slammed the lawsuit as based in “greed.” “Planned Parenthood and abortion vendors seem terrified that people will discover just how easy it will be to live a healthy life without them,” Hawkins said. “People make many medical choices that don’t include Planned Parenthood, and the Trump Administration is to be commended for attempting to redirect Title X dollars away from abortion vendors. … The greed of the abortion lobby is on display as once again they go to court to force taxpayers to fund their enterprise.”
Mallory Quigley, vice president of communications at Susan B. Anthony List, also criticized the abortion group for having an entitlement mentality. “Clearly they view the Title X Family Planning Program as their personal slush fund,” Quigley told NPR, “to which only they are entitled for propping up their massive abortion enterprise.”
There is little evidence that Planned Parenthood’s programs have reduced sexual health risks and teen pregnancies. In 2017, the Trump administration also cut millions of dollars in grants to Planned Parenthood through the failed Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. HHS spokesman Mark Vafiades told the New York Times last year that there is very little evidence that the program was successful. However, Planned Parenthood also is suing over those cuts.
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion business in America, aborting approximately 320,000 unborn babies every year. Its most recent annual report showed a record income of $1.46 billion, with about half a billion dollars coming from taxpayers.
Its sex education programs repeatedly have been questioned and rejected by concerned parents and school administrators across the country.
In February, CBS also highlighted a group of North Carolina parents’ concerns. They said Planned Parenthood’s “Get Real” curriculum “encourages sixth graders to feel ‘comfortable and ready’ for sex. The petition says the curriculum provides flash cards outlining proper condom usage, for ‘vaginal, oral or anal sex’ and recommends the usage of ‘non-microwavable saran wrap’ as a prophylactic for certain non-reproductive sex acts.”
In 2014, Live Action released an undercover video series showing Planned Parenthood employees encouraging young teens to participate in sado-masochistic sexual activities, including gagging, whipping, asphyxiation, shopping at sex stores and viewing pornography.
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Background to this article by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council - "I’ve written about how HHS proposed a new regulation for the Title X family planning program to ensure that taxpayer dollars stay out of the abortion industry. Right now, regulations allow programs to receive Title X family planning funds—annually $286 million--even if they perform abortions or provide abortion referrals in the same location as their Title X activities. While they can’t use federal dollars for abortion, we should not be subsidizing these organizations unless their abortion practices are completely separate from the federal family planning program."
"The reason for this abortion subsidy is that President Clinton changed the Reagan regulations to allow abortions to be performed at the same location as the Title X family planning activities. Worse yet, it mandates that all Title X funding recipients provide abortion referrals! As a result, Title X has been pouring millions of dollars into the abortion industry for decades. Planned Parenthood alone receives $60 million annually from the Title X program. And pro-life organizations refusing to provide abortion referrals are disqualified from applying for Title X funds."
"The proposed HHS rule seeks to change all that by once again requiring Title X recipients to conduct their family planning services at locations that do not perform abortions. The rule would also remove the mandate for abortion referrals, allowing pro-life organizations to once again apply for funding."
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