Pro-life advocates are calling on President Donald Trump to use regulations to rollback taxpayer subsidies to Planned Parenthood.
According to The Hill, it’s the same method was used by the President Ronald Reagan administration to foil the organization’s pro-abortion policies.
The plan is to stop any organization that receives funding under the birth-control dispensing Title X Family Planning Program from either promoting abortion or being an abortion referral agency.
When Reagan did the same in 1988, Democrats objected and pro-life Republicans rejoice.
With midterm elections coming up this fall, GOP strategists think it might be wise to energize the party’s social conservative base by borrowing a page from the Reagan playbook.
“The life issue is a huge motivator for the right. Getting a win on the pro-life side, even if it’s regulatory rather than legislative, would be huge, and encourage people to come out and vote for the members who pushed for action on this,” Kelly Marcum, who provides legislative advice for the evangelical-based Family Research Council, told The Hill.
The Supreme Court validated the Reagan-era regulations so activists hope another pro-life president who has repeatedly promised to cut off tax dollars to Planned Parenthood can move towards their restoration.
With the regulations in place, Planned Parenthood would be faced with a stark choice: stop being an abortion referral agency or stop receiving federal tax dollars from Title X.
“It’s a way to wiggle away at Planned Parenthood federal funding, and a way to reinforce the idea that abortion is not family planning,” Marcum told The Hill.
