This week President Donald Trump delivered on a key pro-life promise: defunding Planned Parenthood.
During the election, Trump ran as a pro-life candidate, and now he has proven that he has and will govern as a pro-life president. Pro-life voters have begun to get used to candidates courting their votes by promising policies that protect the most vulnerable, only to delay acting on those issues when they get into the office. Trump’s recent actions should give energy to pro-life voters that their votes and voice matters.
While career politicians continue to be in gridlock, Trump updated regulations to protect the lives of the unborn. Specifically, his new Title X program will ensure that the abortion industry is no longer supported by taxpayers.
This proposal has already been supported by the Supreme Court in Rust v. Sullivan so we can be confident that his good policy will be upheld if challenged. It is sad to think that Democrats do not support something that is so common sense.
Trump’s proposal will require a bright line of physical as well as financial separation between Title X programs and any program or facility where abortions are performed, supported, or referred to as a method of family planning.
The majority of Americans strongly agrees with President Trump. Six out of ten Americans oppose taxpayer-funded abortions. There is no question American taxpayers want out of the abortion business.
Additionally, this policy is strongly pro-woman. Women and girls get the most robust care at non-abortion centers including rural healthcare centers. These centers outnumber abortion providers more than 20 to 1 nationwide. These are the centers that should be supported, and under Trump’s provisions these centers will not lose a penny of funding.
As for Planned Parenthood, they can still receive grants under one common sense condition: they must disentangle taxpayer funds from abortion.
A similar policy was supported and at one point implemented by Ronald Reagan, our most popular president in recent history. Liberal President Bill Clinton reversed this decision to the disappointment of many pro-life voters. President George W. Bush, despite campaigning as a pro-life president, never reinstated the Reagan framework and taxpayers continued funding the abortion industry. President Barack Obama made it even worse by actually prohibiting states from even deprioritizing abortion centers.
Trump finally brought common sense back to this issue.
There is no question that the far Left is going to smear this policy and the abortion industry is going to fight to get their taxpayer money back. Pro-life voters would be smart to reward the president by defending him and spreading the word. We need to make sure Trump has a pro-life Congress to work with following the 2018 midterm election.
Alex Kharam is the Executive Director of Freedom Club
