The Trump administration has a plan to block Planned Parenthood from receiving federal family planning funding, sources familiar with the matter tell The Daily Signal.
The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it was extending Biden-era family planning grant awards to Planned Parenthood, sparking criticism from pro-lifers.
However, the White House has another option to cut the abortion giant’s cash flow.
The Department of Health and Human Services is developing a restored “Protect Life Rule,” an HHS official confirmed to The Daily Signal. The rule prohibits Title X family planning funds from going to organizations that perform abortions.
“The Title X Notice of Proposed Rulemaking has been noticed on the Unified Agenda and remains on it,” HHS spokeswoman Emily Hilliard told The Daily Signal. “HHS continues to develop a draft proposed rule.”
Once in effect, the rule would likely cause Planned Parenthood to turn down the funds to continue performing abortions. In 2020, Planned Parenthood announced it would drop out of the Title X program and forgo nearly $60 million rather than comply with the rule.
The Protect Life Rule, promulgated during the president’s first term and rescinded by the Biden administration, provides that a counselor in a Title X-funded project could “neither refer for, nor encourage, abortion.”
The “language is written, has been seen by relevant eyes, and should be a slam dunk considering they did it around this time in the first administration,” Tom McClusky, director of government affairs at CatholicVote
