Trump's New Abortion Rule Politicizes a Historically Bipartisan Program (Governing)

Friday May 18th, 2018

Despite decades of being a relatively nonpartisan program, Title X -- the only federal grant program exclusively for family planning and reproductive health -- is gearing up to be front and center of a debate about abortion.

On Friday, the Trump administration will reportedly propose a rule that prohibits Title X funding from going to organizations that perform or support the procedure.

Last summer, the Trump administration ended the grants for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. Baltimore was one of the places to lose funding.

“The funds were [already allocated], and we received no explanation as to why. The teen pregnancy rate in Baltimore has fallen 61 percent [from 2000-2016], so we want to protect the gains we’ve made,” says Leana Wen, Baltimore’s health commissioner.

The health department sued, and a judge sided with the city last month, ordering the Trump administration to restore the grants. But soon after that ruling, the White House released new guidelines for the grants, with a focus on abstinence-only education.

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When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

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