The Department of Health and Human Services today is expected to announce that the agency will ensure that federally funded family planning programs have a stronger separation from abortion. This includes eliminating any requirements that Title X funding recipients counsel or refer patients for abortions as well as instituting rules that facilities receiving these funds do not provide abortions on their premises.

Heritage Foundation research assistant Monica Burke offered this quick reaction on the proposal for new rules for Title X federal grants:

“The federal government has an obligation to not fund abortions with taxpayer dollars. Requiring organizations like Planned Parenthood to maintain a strict financial and physical separation between taxpayer-funded Title X activities and abortions reinforces this commitment to the American public.

But Americans should remember that more must be done to unwind federal funds from the abortion industry. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, received more than $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds from 2013 to 2015. Much of this money came from the Medicaid public health program.

Congress should make it a priority to stop abortion clinics from receiving Medicaid funds and instead direct that money to the thousands of health care centers that provide health care for women and families without any involvement in the abortion industry.”