Leftwing media are misleading their own readers by spreading a story that a rule drafted by the Obama administration to prevent states from defunding Planned Parenthood is now “permanent.”
On Thursday, the Huffington Post marked its September 9 story – with the headline “Obama Moves To Protect Planned Parenthood Funding, Permanently” – about the proposed rule as “updated.” Other outlets, such as Yahoo News and the UK’s the Independent, followed suit in the wake of the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States. The stories were published as if the rule was now in effect.
A look at the Federal Register, however, shows the public comment period on the proposed rule ended October 7, but that HHS has not yet published any final regulations.
Even Snopes.com attempted to clear things up for Planned Parenthood supporters that the new rule is not yet law and is not in effect.
Nevertheless, the rumor mill was launched into service through social media:
https://twitter.com/pvnk_princess/status/796735521875755008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Thank you @POTUS (Obama) for protecting #PlannedParenthood 💗
— abigail ann (@abigailannn) November 10, 2016
Obama just made a move to protect planned parenthood permanently so the republicans can never defund it, his last stand essentially.
— jordie b (@jbaigs) November 10, 2016
As Breitbart News reported on September 6 about the proposed regulation, the Obama administration has sought to override state laws that redirect federal funding from abortion provider Planned Parenthood – its political ally – toward other health care centers that have met the federal government’s criteria.
These federally qualified health care centers (FQHCs) provide more comprehensive services than Planned Parenthood to low-income families. Nationally, there are 13,000 FQHCs – a figure that outnumbers Planned Parenthood facilities by 20 to 1.
Despite the overwhelming number of FQHCs, however, the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says that by redirecting funding away from Planned Parenthood, the states “have interfered with” low-income individuals’ ability to access federal assistance quickly.
In addition to misleading abortion supporters that the proposed rule is now in effect, the notion that President Obama can “permanently” ban states from redirecting federal funds away from Planned Parenthood is false.
“Nothing is permanent in politics, including this rule that has no support in the law actually passed by Congress,” Casey Mattox, senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, tells Breitbart News.
Mattox adds:
States are free to allocate funds to providers that provide better care for women and families rather than abortion businesses that hurt women. Planned Parenthood spent $38 million to elect political cronies, but ultimately they will not even have this rule to show for it because they failed to get their candidate into the White House.
Trump has promised to repeal and replace Obamacare and to appoint pro-life Supreme Court justices. The president-elect has also said Planned Parenthood should be defunded. Abortion proponents have experienced melt-downs following his stunning victory, even to the extent of urging women to have IUDs implanted prior to Trump’s inauguration in order to obtain them for “free,” or, on the taxpayer’s dime.
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