Did you hear the latest fake news? Late last week the
US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled
that Trump’s “Protect Life Rule” partially defunding Planned Parenthood
and other abortion providers receiving federal funds via Title X is
legal and can now be enforced. Title X is a
$300 million government program providing family planning and related preventive health services.
Why do I call this fake news? Because the Rule does little to defund
Planned Parenthood, and it does absolutely nothing to reduce the number
of abortions they provide despite the
loud hosanna’s being heaped on Trump by pro-life organizations — many of whom
profit nearly as much from abortion as the baby butchers themselves.
Though the Protect Life Act was
officially launched back in February, the man Family Research Council President Tony Perkins once called “
the most pro-life president in history” originally
proposed the idea in May 2018
in a vain attempt to prevent the Blue Tsunami in the midterms. Despite
claims to the contrary at the time, nothing in the Rule prevents Planned
Parenthood from continuing to receive the nearly $60 million in Title X
funding — a fact confirmed by a White House official on the same day
Trump announced it:
“This proposal does not necessarily defund Planned
Parenthood, as long as they’re willing to disentangle taxpayer funds
from abortion as a method of family planning, which is required by Title
X law.”
It’s been illegal to use taxpayer funds to finance murdering unborn babies since the
Hyde Amendment
became law in 1976, so Trump’s revolutionary proposal was nothing but a
restatement of existing law. And even with the Hyde Amendment,
Planned Parenthood still receives about $500 million a year under Trump’s presidency.
If it’s illegal, how is it possible for Planned Parenthood to keep collecting its taxpayer-funded blood money? Fungibility.
When the federal government sends Planned Parenthood a check, funds once allocated to pay for what Donald Trump calls the “
good part”
of their work are freed up to bankroll the murder of over 321,000
unborn babies a year (based on recent numbers). To put it another way,
Planned Parenthood is able to make
nearly all of its non-government revenue from killing babies since taxpayers are paying for everything else.
The simple reality is the Protect Life Rule fails in every measurable way to deliver on the rhetoric:
- Even if it truly prevented Planned Parenthood from collecting $60
million in Title X funds, Trump and the GOP already have taxpayers on
the hook for nearly $500 million per year (as stated above) in subsidies
to the abortion mill.
- Because money is fungible, Planned Parenthood can continue
performing abortions using Title X funds simply by incorporating a bit
of creative bookkeeping.
- Per the administration, Title X money can still go to Planned
Parenthood so long as the organization “disentangles” taxpayer funds
(see fungibility above) by conducting their infanticide at a different
location, a location that can even be in the same building.
- In the end, Planned Parenthood won’t lose one red cent in Title X funds.
Here’s an irony for you: Trump and the GOP can raise 2020 funds by
claiming they partially defunded Planned Parenthood, while Democrats and
the Far-Left can raise 2020 funds by making the same claim. Two birds
with one stone lie. A Unibrow classic.
The reality is Trump’s intentionally and deceptively misnamed Protect
Life Rule protects abortion, not life. Still, Trump will take credit
for defunding Planned Parenthood even though he didn’t … and the cult
will cheer him for it.
