The Trump administration has released a final ruling that prevents clinics that are referring women for abortions from receiving any federal family planning funds. The ruling, which was proposed in 2018, was made final on March 4, 2019. It bars Planned Parenthood and other providers offering abortions or referrals from obtaining funding under Title X, which allows access for free birth control for low-income earners.
©The Epoch Times | Samira Bouaou
This will affect Planned Parenthood by about $44 million per year. Planned Parenthood in the states of Hawaii, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Virginia are among those affected by the cuts.
Grants of $1.7 million per year will be provided to the pro-life Obria Group through Title X, to help low-income families in California with pregnancy testing and counseling, prenatal care, HIV/AIDS testing, ultrasounds, cancer testing, well-woman care, pap smears, STD testing and treatment, adoption referral, and post-abortion support, according to press release as reported by Townhall. Obria runs 21 health clinics and 11 mobile clinics in five states, and does not perform or promote abortions.
“With this grant, the administration has opened up a new avenue of health care choices for low-income and underserved women and their families in California,” Kathleen Eaton Bravo, founder and CEO of the pro-life Obria group said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal. “Thank you, President Trump and your Administration for funding a pro-life group like Obria under Title X for the first time in over 35 years. History was made last Friday when HHS announced that Obria was funded!” Bravo wrote social media.
Obria also has a telemedicine app, which, according to the group, is unique because it “connects potential patients to an Obria medical professional via live text chat, video chat, email, or phone.”
“We … are getting most of our abortion-pill-reversal patients through our telemedicine app,” Bravo told The Daily Signal. “It’s national, and we’re dropping it into every clinic as they’re joining us.”
“Many women want the opportunity to visit a professional, comprehensive health care facility–not an abortion clinic—for their health care needs; this grant will give them that choice,” Bravo said in a statement.
The grant will open up many possibilities for families looking for help with family planning, “Our goal is to basically say we’re going to build a model of comprehensive, holistic medical clinics so that a woman [facing an unplanned pregnancy] never has to darken the door of a Planned Parenthood again,” Bravo told The Daily Signal.
According to Life News, the “Protect Life” rule requires Planned Parenthood and other abortion business to separate abortion services from their other services to be eligible for receiving the grant.
In the past, Planned Parenthood had 1.5 million patients every year accessing Title X, but the numbers for services such as pap smears, cancer screenings, and prenatal care have been dropping over the last few years—but there’s an exception when it comes to abortions—they have increased.
