Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty were among those who introduced legislation to close loopholes that allow Title X family planning funds to go to entities that perform abortions, including Planned Parenthood.
Senator Blackburn said, “We must close loopholes that allow for abortion giants like Planned Parenthood to receive federal funding. This legislation will help end taxpayer funded support for the abortion industry and protect the unborn.”
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said, “The abortion industry has used the Title X family planning program as a marketing slush fund, paid for by taxpayers to build a client base for abortion. Nothing stops them from selling abortions on their own time, but they want our time and money.
Students for Life’s Institute for Pro-life Advancement just released a poll showing that almost half of all Millennials and Gen Z, those most targeted for abortion, don’t want their tax money to pay for abortions at home and more than half don’t want to pay for it worldwide. Legislators should refrain from this kind of extremists’ overreach in abortion policy as the only groups pushing for it just want to get paid to end life. Let’s be clear: If your ‘healthcare’ kills people on purpose, you’re doing it wrong.”
Sponsors said The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act:
- Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from providing federal family planning grants to entities that perform abortions, or provide funds to entities that perform abortions.
- Strips abortion giant Planned Parenthood and other Title X clinics of taxpayer funding that ought to go to comprehensive healthcare alternatives instead.
- Exceptions are made for abortions where: (1) the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest; or (2) a physician certifies that the woman suffers from a physical disorder, injury, or illness that would place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy. Hospitals are exempted unless they provide funds to non-hospital entities that perform abortions.
- Requires that HHS provide an annual report to Congress that includes: (1) information on grantees who perform abortions under the exceptions; and (2) a list of entities to which grant funds are made available.