President Obama just gave his friends at Planned Parenthood a generous Christmas gift (or perhaps he calls it a “holiday gift”) courtesy of you, the American taxpayer. With the stroke of a pen, his administration finalized a sweeping new rule that would prevent states like ours from defunding abortion providers.
Think about that — not only is the President insistent on continuing to subsidize the big abortion industry with taxpayer dollars at the federal level, he wants to force Tennessee to follow suit.
Don’t take my word for it, even the New York Times describes the rule as “bar[ring] states from withholding federal family-planning funds from Planned Parenthood affiliates and other health clinics that provide abortions.” You can read the rule for yourself right here.
Make no mistake. This rule is an affront to states’ 10th Amendment rights and it stands in direct contradiction to the expressed will of Congress, which has voted to defund Planned Parenthood with bipartisan support. But more than anything, this is an act of desperation by an administration still shaken at the thought of the change that is coming to Washington, DC on January 20th, 2017.
President Obama has spent years working to build up Planned Parenthood and organizations like it. He was the first sitting President to address their annual fundraising gala and, on his watch, the abortion giant receives more than $550 million in annual taxpayer funding. Now, he sees that his efforts are in jeopardy under the incoming Trump administration so, in typical Obama fashion, his administration has lashed out with a backroom “rule.”
The good news? This decree won’t stand for long. Government rules cannot take effect until 30 days after publication. That means this rule will become effective on January 18th — just two days before President-elect Trump’s inauguration.
Come next year, our pro-life majorities in Congress will be well positioned to work with the Trump administration and, specifically, pro-life nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Tom Price, to not only roll back this latest overreach but also to enact new legal protections for our voiceless unborn.
The Obama Administration will not have the last word. With this new administration comes renewed hope that we can indeed defund Planned Parenthood and return to a culture that values the God-given dignity of every human life — born and unborn alike.
