The Trump administration took aim Friday at Planned Parenthood, issuing a rule barring groups that provide abortions or abortion referrals from participating in the $286 million federal family planning program — a move that is expected to redirect millions from the women’s health provider to faith-based groups.
Under the long-expected change, federally funded family planning clinics can no longer refer a patient for abortion and must maintain a “clear physical and financial separation” between services funded by the government and any organization that provides abortions or abortion referrals. Recipients of grants under the Title X program, which serves an estimated four million low-income women, were already prohibited from performing abortions with those funds.
Health and Human Services officials have said the new requirements, which opponents have vowed to challenge, were necessary to ensure transparency and the legal and ethical use of taxpayer funds.
