Planned Parenthood is sounding the alarm after opting out of the Title X program.
The abortion giant jettisoned its annual $60 million in federal funding as part of the Title X “family-planning” program due to a new Trump administration rule that stripped funding of organizations that referred abortion.
The organization has responded with panic to the new rule, calling it “absolutely devastating,” and repeatedly sending out fundraising emails asking supporters to make up the difference.
Pro-choice activists, politicians and others associated with Planned Parenthood gather for a news conference and demonstration at City Hall against the Trump administrations title X rule change on February 25, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“All of this underscores how abortion is essential to their business model and essential to who they are,” Susan B. Anthony List vice president of communications Mallory Quigley told the Daily Caller.
This air of desperation surrounding Planned Parenthood might be a little premature considering the organization still receives over $500 million in federal funding allocated yearly by Congress, and reported nearly $2 trillion in assets last year. (RELATED: Trillion Dollar Budget Deal Funds Planned Parenthood Yet Again)
By stripping part of Planned Parenthood’s funding, the Trump administration is cracking down on a rarely-discussed loophole that allows Planned Parenthood to use taxpayer money to refer patients for abortions at one of their own facilities even though the Hyde Amendment prohibits using taxpayer money for the procedure itself.
“You have some instances where Planned Parenthood facilities receive title X funding and are performing abortions,” Quigley said.
Title X funding is fungible and can be used for anything, including advertisements for abortions. The Trump administration’s decision to strip this part of the organization’s funding marks a major victory for the pro-life movement, according to prominent pro-life activists.
“Planned Parenthood has been receiving title X funding for 50 years,” Quigley said. “This is a watershed moment for the pro-life movement.”
“Planned Parenthood primarily uses Title X to see minors and undocumented patients,” former Planned Parenthood employee turned pro-life activist Abby Johnson told the Daily Caller. “Losing the money will be a big hit to them, but we already know that their primary concern isn’t women’s healthcare.”
It’s the latest sign that the pro-life movement is winning in America. Pro-life activists believe public opinion is turning against Planned Parenthood, which has faced multiple scandals in recent years. (RELATED: These Are The States That Have Passed Pro-Life Abortion Bills This Year)
Monica Cline, a former sex educator at Planned Parenthood told the Daily Caller that she quit the organization in 2009 after they refused to report cases of human trafficking to authorities, and says stripping the organization of Title X funding is a step in the right direction.
Mayra Rodriguez and Cecile Richards. Photo courtesy of Mayra Rodriguez.
“When they trained me on reaching out to teenagers, they basically gave me the impression that there’s no way of stopping young people of having sex,” Cline said of her time at Planned Parenthood.
Cline says the organization promoted promiscuity among young people with an eye on driving up their abortion profits.
“The only behavior they were interested in changing was getting [young people] to wear condoms, use birth control, have abortions,” she said.
Planned Parenthood has spent the last four years playing defense after a series of videos was released from the Center for Medical Progress that showed the organization’s employees discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue, which would be a violation of federal law.
“The reality of Planned Parenthood has really broken through the mainstream media,” Quigley said.
Just last week, Planned Parenthood was ordered by a judge to pay out a $3 million lawsuit to a former employee who was fired after she expressed concerns over the conduct of Planned Parenthood abortionists. Mayra Rodriguez worked at Planned Parenthood for 17 years and ran three of their clinics, but told the Daily Caller News Foundation earlier this week that she became disillusioned with Planned Parenthood after allegedly discovering health and safety violations within some facilities. (RELATED: Nikki Haley Responds To Whoopi Goldberg’s Abortion Criticism)
“You know when you have been married to a person for 17 years and you find out they have been cheating on you,” Rodriguez said. “That deception that you feel in your heart? That is how I felt.”
“The deception with Planned Parenthood begins with the name,” Quigley said. “We’ve reached the point where Americans see what Planned Parenthood truly is.”
“The pro-life movement’s work to expose Planned Parenthood certainly isn’t over,” Quigley added.
Even as abortion rights remain the law of the land in America, the pro-life movement continues its incremental gains. Trump’s Title X move is another step in that direction.
