Trump signs resolution allowing U.S.
states to block family planning funds
Send a link to a friend
[April 14, 2017]
By Lisa Lambert
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald
Trump on Thursday signed a resolution that will allow U.S. states to
restrict how federal funds for contraception and reproductive health are
spent, a move cheered by anti-abortion campaigners.
"This is a major pro-life victory," said the most powerful Republican in
the House of Representatives, Speaker Paul Ryan, adding that a
regulation enacted under Democratic former President Barack Obama had
forced states to fund Planned Parenthood, a national non-profit that
provides contraception, health screenings, and abortions.
Under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to repeal
newly minted rules, both the House and Senate had passed a resolution
killing Obama's regulation that had protected federal grants for clinics
in states wanting to block the funding.
States such as Texas in recent years have kept the grants from going to
clinics as part of the country's longstanding fight over abortion.
Broadly, many Republicans seek to restrict abortion or make it illegal
while Democrats have fought to keep abortion legal.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Aug/26/images/ads/current/ldn_medical_directory_small_2016.png)
The resolution had narrowly passed the U.S. Congress, with Vice
President Mike Pence called to the Senate on March 30 to break a tie
vote in the chamber, where Republicans hold a slim majority. The federal
government can never again create a "substantially similar" regulation
under the review law.
The grants, known as "Title X" funds, were already barred from going
directly to abortion services but under the now-null regulation Planned
Parenthood clinics were assured they could receive money even in the
face of state objections.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/041417pics/news_a1.jpg)
President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Joint
Base Andrews outside Washington, U.S., before traveling to Palm
Beach, Florida for the Good Friday holiday/Easter weekend, April 13,
2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/14/images/ads/current/agland_lda_farm_2015.png)
"Allowing states to withhold Title X funding from family planning
clinics won’t make anyone safer or healthier – it will instead place
essential services out of reach," said Diane Horvath-Cosper, a
medical doctor and fellow at Physicians for Reproductive Health,
adding that for many people the clinics are the only place where
they can receive affordable health services such as disease testing.
(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Frances Kerry)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/14/images/ads/current/pestcontrol_bch_termites.png) |