MISS. LAWMAKERS SEEK TO RESTORE PROTECT LIFE RULE, KEEP TAXPAYER DOLLARS FROM SUPPORTING ABORTIONS
Hyde-Smith, Wicker, Kelly, Guest Among Lawmakers Asking Trump HHS to Strike Biden-era Pro-Abortion Rule
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and U.S. Representatives Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) and Michael Guest (R-Miss.) are part of push for the Trump administration to restore a rule to ensure Title X Family Planning Program funding does not support abortion or abortion services.
The Mississippi delegation is among 159 lawmakers who signed a letter that asks Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy to strike down a Biden-era Title X rule that allowed abortion providers like Planned Parenthood to reap millions in taxpayer dollars annually. The letter seeks the restoration of a Trump-era Title X rule that required complete physical and financial separation between a grantee’s Title X activities and abortion activities.
Hyde-Smith, as chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, led the letter with U.S. Representatives Ron Estes (R-Kan.) and Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), and other members of the congressional leadership signed the letter.
“We ask you to correct the misguided actions of the previous administration and reimplement the Protect Life Rule to ensure taxpayer dollars are not used to subsidize the abortion industry,” the lawmakers wrote.
“It is time to restore the bright line of separation between family planning and abortion that is consistent with the plain text of the statute and Congressional intent. We urge you to move swiftly to issue regulations for the Title X program that will protect federal taxpayer funds from being spent for Title X programs where abortion is a method of family planning,” they wrote.
The letter commends the previous Protect Life Rule established during the first Trump administration for eliminating the abortion referral mandate and requiring complete physical and financial separation between a grantee’s Title X activities and abortion activities. It was also sharply critical of the Biden administration’s action to eliminate the Protect Life Rule and require grantees to refer for abortion and to be co-located in the same clinic.
“Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s decision to suspend and revise the Protect Life Rule compromised the integrity of the Title X program. By mandating abortion referrals, the Biden rule effectively required grantees to encourage or promote abortion in order to receive funding, operating exactly opposite to the requirements of the Title X statute,” the lawmakers wrote Kennedy.
The Title X Family Health Program became law with the Public Health Service Act of 1970 and was clearly intended to prohibit federal funds from being spent on programs that promoted abortion as a family planning method.
Signed by 41 Senators and 118 Members of Congress, the letter is supported by SBA Pro-Life America, National Right to Life, March for Life Action, Students for Life Action, Concerned Women for America, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and Catholic Vote.
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