[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H4272-H4275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE PROPOSED PROTECTING LIFE RULE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, it is my distinct honor and 
privilege to yield to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem), an 
extremely effective Member of the House of Representatives, the former 
assistant majority leader of the South Dakota House of Representatives, 
and a distinguished member of the Ways and Means Committee.
  Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and his 
work protecting life in this Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, taxpayers should not have to bear the abortion 
industry's financial burden directly or indirectly, and yet, every 
single year, the American people are forced to deposit $60 million into 
the bank account of Planned Parenthood, an organization that performs 
more than 300,000 abortions annually.
  Now, I understand that this money cannot be directly spent on 
abortions, and we have been successful in protecting taxpayers from 
funding these procedures through the Hyde amendment.
  But by subsidizing organizations like Planned Parenthood, which 
promote and perform abortions, taxpayers are propping up the abortion 
industry, and that is just not right. That is a burden that they should 
not have to bear.
  I know some will try to claim this move as damaging women's health, 
but that is false. The President's decision will not take a penny from 
women's health.
  Instead, it redirects those funds to clinics and centers that offer 
comprehensive life-affirming care to women from the moment of 
conception on.
  And in many areas, health centers like this far outnumber Planned 
Parenthood clinics. For example, in my home State of South Dakota, 
there are six federally qualified health centers operating in 45 
service sites, but just one Planned Parenthood center.
  For decades, the abortion industry has tried to normalize this 
operation. But I want to be clear: Abortion is not healthcare, and it 
is not family planning either.
  Abortion is the intentional ending of an unborn baby's life. There is 
nothing more fundamental to our society than our kids. Our founding 
documents speak on behalf of us and our posterity.
  The American Dream itself rests on the idea that our children will 
have more opportunity than we do, and that is how America works.
  And no matter how small they are, whether they are born or unborn, we 
should never stop passionately arguing for their life and their 
liberty.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for her 
very eloquent statement.
  Mr. Speaker, last Friday, the Trump administration announced its 
intention to re-assert and promulgate portions of President Ronald 
Reagan's modest but necessary life-affirming title 10 rule; a policy 
designed to ensure that taxpayers don't fund, facilitate, or promote 
abortion in America's $286 million per year family plan program.
  This new old policy comes at a time when huge majorities of 
Americans, over 60 percent, according to major polls, strongly oppose 
the use of taxpayer funds for abortion.
  The Trump/Reagan policy, now called the Protect Life Rule, comes at a 
time when the high utilization of ultrasound imaging of the child in 
the womb has provided spectacular clarity and empathy, and even love, 
for the baby.
  First baby pictures today, the kind you put on the door of your 
refrigerator, are of unborn babies. Seeing is believing.
  No one can seriously deny anymore that unborn children are alive, 
dynamic, precious, a miracle, and defenseless.
  Title 10 was intended to be about family planning, prevention, not 
the hideous dismemberment or chemical poisoning or deliberate 
starvation and forced expulsion of a defenseless unborn baby. There is 
nothing benign or compassionate about killing a defenseless child.
  Mr. Speaker, created by Congress in 1970, title 10 of the Public 
Health Service Act authorized taxpayer funds to assist ``voluntary 
family planning projects,'' but made absolutely clear in the status 
that Federal funds were prohibited from being spent on ``programs where 
abortion is a method of family planning.''
  As title 10 was administered, however, that didn't happen. So to 
faithfully implement both the spirit and the letter of the law, 
President Ronald Reagan issued a rule in 1988 that included physical 
separation of abortion activities from federally funded family planning 
projects.
  In response, the American abortion industry sued to get hundreds of 
millions of taxpayer dollar subsidies, and they lost. On May 23, 1991, 
27 years ago this Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Rust v. 
Sullivan, affirmed the constitutionality of the Reagan title 10 rule.
  Tragically, President Bill Clinton, by executive order, reversed the 
Reagan policy. He not only authorized abortion clinics and family 
planning activities under the same roof, co-location, but went further, 
mandating, made it a condition of receiving title 10 funds, that title 
10 recipients refer for abortion, an egregious violation of conscience 
rights protected under Federal law.
  Thus, by requiring abortion referrals, family planning service 
providers who oppose abortion, were and are today, precluded from all 
participation in the Federal program.
  Today, hundreds of abortion clinics are co-located as title 10 family 
planning facilities. For example, 266 of Planned Parenthood's abortion 
clinics are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers in the title 10 program, to 
the tune of $56- to $60 million each year.

                              {time}  1945

  Planned Parenthood is an organization, let's not forget, that is 
directly responsible for over 7 million deaths of unborn children--a 
staggering loss of children's lives.
  Mr. Speaker, if past is prologue, I fully expect an organized, 
aggressive, willful distortion of the Protect Life Rule. Nevertheless, 
in the spirit of honest debate and civil discourse, I urge opponents 
and the news media to be clear what this rule actually does and what it 
doesn't do.
  According to the White House, the new Protect Life Rule will: one, 
physically and financially separate family planning clinics from 
abortions, and will make other important reforms. It will also 
safeguard the conscience rights of providers by eliminating the 
egregious illegal mandate that requires all participants in the program 
to refer pregnant women to abortion.
  The Protect Life Rule will not, however, prohibit counseling that may 
include conversations about abortion. This would be in keeping with 
guidance issued by George H.W. Bush's administration that affirmed 
that:

       Nothing in these regulations is to prevent a woman from 
     receiving complete medical information about her condition 
     from a physician.

  Finally, Mr. Speaker, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, chairman of the 
Committee on Pro-Life Activities, really summed it up when he said: 
``For too long, title X has been used to subsidize the abortion 
industry. We need to draw a bright line between what happens before a 
pregnancy begins and what happens after a child has been created.''
  He goes on to say: ``Abortion always takes the life of a child and 
often harms the mother, her surviving children, and other family and 
friends as well.''
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly), 
my good friend. He serves on the Committee on Ways and Means and is a 
former member of the Butler City Council.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, who 
has been a longstanding and committed champion of life.
  Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, the Trump administration proposed cutting 
title X funding for organizations like Planned Parenthood that perform 
abortions. Now, the proposed rule does not cut funds from the title X 
family planning program. Instead, the funds

[[Page H4273]]

are directed to community health centers like The Primary Health 
Network in Sharon, Pennsylvania. Countrywide, there are 20 times more 
community health centers than Planned Parenthoods. In fact, there are 
absolutely no Planned Parenthood offices in my district, but there are 
37 federally funded health centers. Planned Parenthood receives $56 
million a year in taxpayer dollars through title X.
  One of the things I wanted to just talk about for a minute, if I can, 
today we again grieve at the loss of innocent life, and I just would 
ask people to look at the loss of innocent life that we see every day 
in the United States. There are approximately 3,000 abortions performed 
daily in the United States.
  So as we grieve so much for the loss of innocent life, I think 
sometimes we forget about all of the other life that is being lost and 
we kind of push that aside because we say: The Supreme Court made a 
ruling that allows that to take place. Regardless, it still is a loss 
of innocent life, and we see this every day, but somehow as a nation, 
we have a deaf ear and a blind eye to that loss of innocent life.
  To me, it just would seem that at some point we look at this and 
realize it for what it is. I can't tell the other gentleman how much I 
appreciate the battle that he has continued, and it shouldn't be a 
battle. We are all trying to do the same thing, and it is to make sure 
that innocent life is protected.
  So this piece, it doesn't take any money at all away from the title X 
family planning program. It does take a look at Planned Parenthood and 
says, you cannot use this taxpayer-funded money, this $56 million to 
$60 million a year to provide abortions. I would just ask the country 
as a whole, and the Nation, and we, as a people, to please take a look 
at what is going on.
  This loss of innocent life is so tragic and so unnecessary, and I say 
that because I know a lot of the pregnancies are unintended, but there 
are loving families waiting for children who are there, who are 
willing, and who are wanting to provide a loving home for children.
  So I would like to see if we can somehow come to an agreement or come 
to an understanding about what is being lost every day--3,000 innocent 
lives a day.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate what the gentleman is doing. I know how 
hard it has been. It is so hard for some people to weigh in on it, but 
I just think there is a conscience that we all need to have, and 
preserving life is one of those.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Kelly so 
much for his comments and his leadership for many, many years. I deeply 
appreciate it.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes), a 
good friend and colleague, who is a distinguished member of the 
Education and the Workforce Committee and also serves on Homeland 
Security.
  Mr. ESTES of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the new 
title X regulations announced by the Trump administration's Department 
of Health and Human Services.
  Title X is a family planning program authorized in 1970 to provide 
family planning services to low-income women. Currently, Congress 
approves $286 million a year to provide these family planning services 
like: education, counseling, health screenings, and healthcare. For 
years, pro-life protections like the Hyde amendment sought to ensure 
tax dollars, including title X funds, would not go to abortion 
providers.
  However, the Clinton-era title X regulations have sadly mandated that 
all grantees refer abortions as part of their family planning services 
and created loopholes allowing title X funding to flow to organizations 
which provide abortions, such as Planned Parenthood.
  Under these Clinton-era regulations, Planned Parenthood has been able 
to receive an average of $56 million in taxes each year from title X. 
Clearly, that is not in line with the intent of the title X family 
planning program and it is past time to change.

  I was proud to help lead the effort in Congress to urge the 
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to update 
title X guidelines with those similar to regulations in place during 
the Reagan era. These Reagan regulations--which were upheld by the 
Supreme Court in 1991--were rolled back by the Clinton administration 
and have remained in place since then.
  However, today, thanks to President Trump and his administration, we 
turn this page and mark a historic victory for life. This week the 
Trump administration will unveil new regulations called the Protect 
Life Rule which will prohibit any organization that performs or refers 
abortions from receiving title X family planning funds.
  The Protect Life Rule will mandate that title X grant recipients be 
physically and financially separate from facilities that provide 
abortions, closing for good that loophole that has allowed 
organizations like Planned Parenthood to receive title X funding.
  Currently, Planned Parenthood conducts 320,000 abortions every year 
and receives nearly $60 million in tax dollars annually. Implementing 
the Protect Life Rule will save thousands of innocent lives and ensure 
that title X funding supports actual family planning, not abortions.
  The Protect Life Rule will also increase safeguards for victims of 
sexual assault, these victims who have already been abused. 
Implementing the Protect Life Rule will not cut any funds that go 
toward family planning to support mothers and families every day. In 
fact, it will provide more money net for legitimate family planning 
activities. To suggest otherwise, would be a politically motivated lie 
to the American people.
  Contrary to the doomsday rhetoric used by pro-abortion advocates, 
this is a great day for life and families across America. I want to 
thank dozens of pro-life grassroots organizations and more than 150 of 
my colleagues from the House and Senate who joined this effort to push 
back for the new title X regulations--especially Representatives Black, 
Hartzler, and Smith.
  I also want to thank President Trump and his administration for 
issuing the Protect Life Rule, heeding our calls and the calls of 
millions of Americans who have long demanded that tax dollars not go to 
abortion providers, just as the law was intended.
  President Trump ran as a pro-life candidate, and the Protect Life 
Rule is just the latest example of how the President and Republicans in 
Congress believe in keeping our promises to the American people.
  The Protect Life Rule is a win for millions of Americans who have 
marched for life in our Nation's Capital and the millions more who have 
marched throughout our country, including in my home State of Kansas.
  I look forward to the implementation of the Protect Life Rule.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for his 
comments and his leadership, especially on this important issue. I 
deeply appreciate it.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the distinguished gentleman from Iowa 
(Mr. King), a member of the Agriculture Committee, the Small Business 
Committee, and a force on the Judiciary Committee.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and appreciate 
him yielding, and also appreciate Chris Smith's leadership on the pro-
life issue here in the United States Congress.
  It takes a strong and committed force to constantly be on top of 
every component of the life issue every day and night. I am convinced 
that Chris Smith misses sleep over this, as I do and many of us do. But 
today, we have got something to be happy about, Mr. Speaker, and that 
is that the $286 million that goes into family planning and is under 
title X, the purpose of those funds is to help plan the number and the 
spacing of children. And I think that God should be in charge of that.
  I have long said that a solution for our society is good people need 
to have a lot of babies and raise them right. And once we get our 
social agenda right, if we get our faith right, if we get our families 
right, if we understand the Constitution, if we have a work ethic that 
is right, and if our integrity is there, all the rest will 
automatically take care of itself.
  I see these little babies when I look around in my church. Our church 
is just full of little ones. I had a little newborn in front of me last 
Sunday and I watched how the family passed that little newborn along. I 
saw a granddaughter shoot across the aisle to grandparents. Nobody 
worries. I don't

[[Page H4274]]

worry because those kids there are going to be all right.
  This country always takes care of its little ones. There has never 
been a time where we could have more confidence in taking care of our 
little ones, but we have got to get them born.
  We are seeing money borrowed from China to supplement a national debt 
to go into a title X family planning program. Abortion is not family 
planning. Abortion is ending a significant component of the family.
  This program also has statutory prohibition on abortion. So this 
policy that is unfolding here--thankfully, from the Trump 
administration--will restore the statutory provisions and Planned 
Parenthood themselves--you have heard the number, Mr. Speaker, 56 
million--and my math came out to 60 million. It is in that category--
that is used to advocate for abortion and to actually commit abortions.
  Some people aren't moved by the utter immorality. I have looked at 
some things that I saw today as I was flying in this morning, and I 
looked around on the internet and picked up some things. One of them 
that caught my eye was that the U.S. birth rate has hit a record low. 
Now, that record low consists of this: There were only 60.2 babies born 
per thousand women in this past year in 2017. That is the women between 
the ages of 15 and 44, the fertility years, as the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention describes it--only 60.2. That is the lowest it 
has ever been since we have been keeping records, and we have been 
keeping records for decades.

  Also, the total fertility rate is the lowest it has been since 1978--
and I think we had an anomaly in 1978--but that total fertility rate, 
Mr. Speaker, I point out that in order to sustain our population as it 
is, just a level population, it takes 2.1 babies per woman in order to 
sustain our population. And that is rated in the total fertility rate. 
That is 1.764 today, babies per woman, the lowest it has been since 
1978, and well below--hundreds and hundreds below--what it needs to be 
able to sustain our population.
  And here is another record that is the lowest in 30 years. Now think 
of this: The population of the United States of America is as high as 
it has ever been--about 326 million or more. With 326 million people, 
you would think the higher the population is, the more babies would be 
born into that population--at least you would set a record on babies 
born into the population because our population is as large as it has 
ever been.
  But here is the real data on it. There were 3,853,472 births in 2017. 
That is the lowest number of births in 30 years. The lowest number of 
births in 30 years, and we also need to add to that, there are roughly 
1 million abortions that took place in America in 2017.
  So if those babies had been born, we would have had 4,853,472 little 
ones here rather than the 3.8 million that is in the data that we have.

                              {time}  2000

  According to this data, 21 percent of the babies conceived in 
America's lives are ended by abortion, Mr. Speaker, and I am seeing an 
administration that is moving around on the side of life. I am seeing a 
society that is moving along on the side of life. I am watching the 4-D 
ultrasounds where now we can hear the heartbeat and we can watch them 
move and squirm in the womb.
  I am encouraged that America's society and America's civilization is 
moving toward the side of life.
  Eventually, we will see the end of Roe v. Wade, Doe v. Bolton, and 
Planned Parenthood v. Casey. We will get there, Mr. Speaker. And the 
work that is done by Mr. Smith and others and, thankfully, the 
President and the administration get us closer to that day.
  Mr. Speaker, I applaud this decision, and I thank the gentleman from 
New Jersey for this Special Order hour.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, it is now an honor and 
privilege to introduce a former member of the Colorado General Assembly 
and a member of the House Armed Services and Natural Resources 
Committees, Doug Lamborn.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn).
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's leadership.
  The Trump administration is set to announce proposed regulations 
regarding the title X family planning funding stream, very similar to 
Reagan-era rules, to clearly separate family planning from abortion 
services. This is good news and something I have been strongly urging 
President Trump and Secretary Azar to do.
  I think it is important to remind ourselves of something very basic: 
Family planning should determine when to begin new lives. Abortion ends 
lives. Abortion should never be considered an ethical method of family 
planning.
  Under the new proposed rule, counseling or referral for abortion 
would no longer be required for family planning grantees, and 
colocation with abortion providers would no longer be allowed.
  The Trump administration is doing the right thing, as President 
Reagan did, to ensure that taxpayer money goes to family planning 
centers that are not in the abortion business. For too long, Planned 
Parenthood has used title X as their personal slush fund.
  I will continue to work to find legislative solutions to end taxpayer 
funding of Planned Parenthood, but until we are able to get legislation 
through the Senate--and we have gotten it through the House--this will 
be a significant step forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Trump administration.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, Doug LaMalfa is the 
distinguished gentleman representing California's First District. He 
serves on the Committees on Agriculture and Natural Resources.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith) and the rest of my colleagues who have spoken up here as well.
  This is a great opportunity to, I think, shed light on some truth on 
what this really means with title X, what has gone on in the last 
couple decades, really.
  The proposed Protect Life Rule used to be the way of doing business 
in this country for the way funding would be directed to those 
providing health services. In recent years, a significant portion of 
that has been now allowed to go towards those who are providing 
abortions.
  A key element to always remember is abortion is not family planning. 
This rule we are talking about here that I urge President Trump to move 
forward with would draw, indeed, a very bright line between abortion 
and family planning, as was clearly intended in the statute. Currently, 
266 Planned Parenthood abortion centers are also funded under Federal 
title X locations.
  So what is the general opinion of the public on this? Nearly two-
thirds of Americans do not believe that their dollars should be funding 
abortions. America's taxpayers don't want this. They don't want to be 
complicit in it. They don't want to be a part of it.
  So what is the effect? Family planning funding will not be reduced by 
a single dollar. It is just which services will be provided by which 
locations is the question here.
  The Protect Life Rule would not decrease title X funding by a single 
dollar but, instead, will be directing those dollars to the sites 
willing to comply.
  Less than 500 of the roughly already 4,000 title X services under the 
current rule are Planned Parenthood facilities, less than 500 out of 
4,000. So for those claiming that only Planned Parenthood provides 
these, in some cases, so-called services, there are plenty of those 
places that are already doing that without Planned Parenthood's help. 
Indeed, this will provide more opportunities for women and girls to 
find locations that will provide health services with the dollars going 
where they are so desperately needed--rural America, especially.
  It doesn't have to be just Planned Parenthood, as we would hear so 
much from the other side of the aisle who desperately defends them at 
every turn. Clinton-era regulations allowed funding for abortion 
centers and required all grantees under title X to refer for abortions.
  What about those centers and those facilities that have a conscience 
on this issue? They don't want to have that. We are going through that 
in California right now. It is going in front of the Supreme Court, 
whether it is right or not or constitutional to force pro-life centers 
to refer for abortions. Clinton-era regulations require that as well.

[[Page H4275]]

  In the new Protect Life Rule being put forward, I hope President 
Trump and his administration follow through on it to help protect those 
freedoms to decide if those centers want to be part of that or not. 
Indeed, centers that don't promote and push abortion will be the ones 
that come forward and receive this type of funding that is so necessary 
and the right thing that the American people and the majority want to 
see happen.
  So I commend this effort. I commend the administration for 
contemplating and pushing through with this. I thank my colleague, Mr. 
Smith, for always being that strong voice for what is right. Well done, 
sir.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for his 
eloquence and his principled and very courageous stand.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________