WASHINGTON (BP) – The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has joined 159 lawmakers, including several Southern Baptists, urging the Trump administration to restore a rule that blocks Title X family planning funding from subsidizing abortions.
Known as the Family Planning Rule, the Title X restriction the ERLC and others seek to restore required in the first Trump administration a complete physical and financial separation between a grantee’s Title X activities and abortion activities, including providing information about the legality of abortion and names of providers. Currently, Title X funding is available to providers who inform patients of abortion as a family planning option, according to guidelines at nationalfamilyplanning.org.
The restoration of the Family Planning Rule is essential to clearly state the demarcation line, ERLC President Evan Lenow told Baptist Press.
“Currently, the federal government cannot pay for abortions or abortion-related counseling, but this rule would go one step further,” Lenow said. “Beyond prohibiting the federal funding of abortion, this rule also bars the funding of entities that offer these horrendous services. The ERLC was glad to garner support for this timely congressional letter asking the Trump administration to reinstate the Protect Life Rule.”
The rule is especially important as a measure that strips federal Medicaid funding from abortion providers is set to expire July 4th, Lenow said.
“Clear federal action to bar funding for abortions is imperative,” he said. “The federal government should have no part in furthering this assault on human life, even implicitly. Alongside this congressional coalition, we urge the Trump administration to reinstate this commonsense and crucial rule.”
The ERLC was among several groups who worked to encourage senators and representatives to sign the letter.
In the letter dated May 28 and addressed to Secretary of HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the congressional coalition urged the restoration of what it called “a bright line of separation” between family planning and abortion, naming Planned Parenthood in particular as a provider benefitting from Title X funding.
“History confirms that without the Protect Life Rule, Title X serves as a funding stream for the abortion industry. For example, between 2013 and 2015, Title X funds made up over $170 million of Planned Parenthood’s expenditures,” the lawmakers said. “Restoring these critical reforms is not without precedent; regulations requiring the physical separation of abortion activities and prohibiting abortion referrals were promulgated under President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1991.”
The Office of Population Affairs in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has run the Title X family planning program as the only dedicated source of federal funding for family planning in the nation, incorporating what the program describes as a “diverse network of Title X-funded health centers” and providing “a range of essential preventive services, including cancer screenings, STI (sexually transmitted infection) prevention, HIV services, and contraceptive care and counseling in communities across the country.”
The Biden administration suspended and revised the Protect Life Rule, mandating abortion referrals, lawmakers said.
Southern Baptists among the 41 senators and 118 representatives signing the letter include Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus; House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Sen. John Boozeman (R-AR), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS). Hyde-Smith led the letter, her office said in a press release, with U.S. Representatives Ron Estes (R-Kan.) and Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.).
Also helping garner signatures were Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, National Right to Life, March for Life Action, Students for Life Action, Concerned Women for America and Catholic Vote.
Read the letter here.
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