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Rubio, Ernst, Colleagues Oppose Biden Administration Efforts to Direct Tax Dollars to Abortion Providers

May 18, 2021 | Press Releases

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and colleagues sent a public comment letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra, urging HHS to withdraw the Proposed Rule on the Title X family planning program, which would eliminate the Trump Administration’s 2019 Protect Life Rule. If finalized, the Proposed Rule would direct tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to enrich Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry.
 
“The Proposed Rule would allow Title X funds to support programs where abortion is a method of family planning, contrary to law, and, impose onerous and illegal mandates for Title X projects to counsel and refer for abortion,” the senators wrote. “As Members of Congress, we have a unique Constitutional interest and oversight role in ensuring regulations governing the Title X program comport with the law and Congressional intent.”
 
“Abortion is not family planning; it is family destruction … The Proposed Rule defies the law and would siphon tens of millions of taxpayer dollars in Title X funding towards Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, to the detriment of American taxpayers, the consciences of health care providers, and the lives of unborn children,” the senators continued. 
 
To read the full letter, click here.
 
The letter has the support of Susan B. Anthony List, Family Research Council, National Right to Life, March for Life, Concerned Women for America, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, HHS Accountability Project scholars at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Heritage Action, and Americans United for Life.
 
Rubio previously joined Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), along with more than 100 of their colleagues in writing to President Biden and HHS Secretary Becerra opposing the proposed new rule.
 
Rubio is an original cosponsor of Blackburn’s Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would prohibit HHS from providing federal family planning grants to any entities that perform abortions.