Planned Parenthood abandons millions in federal funds over new rule prohibiting abortion referrals
Planned Parenthood has withdrawn from a federal program that would have given them $60 million because of a new Trump administration rule prohibiting abortion referrals for patients.
After Planned Parenthood announced on Monday it would back out of the Title X federal family planning program, Dr. Nicole Saphier said that the majority of Americans do not support federal funding for abortion services.
“Across the board, people oppose using federal funds for abortions,” the Fox News' medical contributor told “Fox & Friends” Tuesday, adding that multiple polls back her assertion.
She said the Trump administration is not restricting access to abortions, but "just saying you cannot use federal funds for abortion and if you are receiving federal funds, you cannot directly refer these women for an abortion.”
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ABANDONS TITLE X FEDERAL FUNDS AFTER TRUMP RULE PROHIBITS ABORTION REFERRALS
Planned Parenthood's pullout followed a June order from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that lifted a nationwide injunction that had prevented the Trump administration from enforcing the new rule.
The court's three-judge panel, with two judges appointed by President Trump, is still weighing Planned Parenthood's lawsuit to overturn the rule, but has allowed the administration to begin enforcement -- a sign that the administration will ultimately win on the merits.
Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood's acting president and CEO, said the organization's nationwide network of health centers will remain open and work to make up for the loss of federal money.
Calling the Trump administration's "gag rule" both "unnecessary and dangerous," Johnson said on a conference call with reporters that "we believe that the Trump administration is doing this as an attack on reproductive health care and to keep providers like Planned Parenthood from serving our patients.”
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“It’s incorrectly being labeled as a gag rule because there is nothing stopping providers, physicians, nurses from actually discussing the option of abortions with the patients but they are no longer able to directly refer for these services,” Saphier said.
Fox News' Caleb Parke and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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