"It is shameful that the Obama Administration would choose to put the financial interests of the abortion industry above authentic healthcare and the law," said AUL's Clarke Forsythe. "Low-income women deserve better."

Contact: Kristi Hamrick, 202-289-1478, press@aul.org

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Americans United for Life filed a comment today urging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reject a proposed amendment to regulations regarding Title X, a federal family planning program. In its written comment, AUL explained that the proposed rule "is simply a thinly-veiled attempt to force states to fund abortion providers, and perhaps more specifically, employs political favoritism to secure funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider. In doing so, it wrongly subverts a fundamental provision of Title X."

In recent years, several states have enacted laws to better ensure that taxpayer-funded programs, such as Title X family planning, are more effectively promoting comprehensive healthcare needs and not indirectly subsidizing abortion or abortion providers. The subsequent improved oversight of government programs including Title X has resulted in less money flowing to abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood. In its proposed rule, HHS is attempting to intervene on behalf of abortion providers and force states to keep funding the abortion industry.

AUL acting president and senior counsel Clarke Forsythe observed: "When Congress created the Title X program in 1970, it was concerned that abortion providers would try to take advantage of this taxpayer-funded program. That is why it wrote into law that Title X funds cannot be used 'in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.' By forcing states to fund abortion providers, the rule proposed by HHS will turn Title X on its head."

In its comment, AUL explains how forcing states to fund abortion providers contradicts the statutory language of Title X. AUL also argues that the growth of abortion businesses within certain clinics ostensibly focused on contraception and family planning necessitates state efforts to create greater safeguards for the allocation of Title X funding. Moreover, AUL demonstrates that growing evidence supports disqualifying Planned Parenthood (the nation's largest abortion provider with a documented history of overbilling government healthcare and family planning programs) from Title X eligibility.

"The rule being proposed by HHS is politics at its worst. Low-income women deserve better than the 'status quo' of granting abortion clinics tax-payer dollars that could be better directed to healthcare providers that offer women comprehensive care. It is shameful that the Obama Administration would choose to put the financial interests of Big Abortion above authentic healthcare and the law," continued Forsythe.

For more on the business model of Planned Parenthood, click here.

For more on the health risks of abortion for women, click here.  
 
Americans United for Life (AUL) is the legal architect of the pro-life movement. We are accumulating victories, building momentum, and advancing a culture of life in America. Our vision is a nation in which everyone is welcomed in life and protected in law. The first national pro-life organization in America, AUL has been committed to defending human life since 1971.