Defund Planned Parenthood, but NOT with the current bill!

The text of the House Bill to defund Planned Parenthood, called the “Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2017,” does absolutely nothing to defund Planned Parenthood.  The bill is disastrously self-defeating and should not, in ANY way, be supported by pro-lifers.

The bill is only 4 pages long and rather than simply defunding Planned Parenthood and leaving it at that, the bill includes so many exceptions that Planned Parenthood will, effectively, enjoy the federal funding that it is currently receiving.

The first pertinent section is Section 3:

SEC.  3.  MORATORIUM  ON  FEDERAL  FUNDING  TO  PLANNED  PARENTHOOD    FEDERATION    OF    AMERICA,  INC.

(a) IN GENERAL—For the one-year period beginning on  the  date  of  the  enactment  of  this  Act,  subject  to  subsection  (b),  no  funds  authorized  or  appropriated  by  Federal law may be made available for any purpose to Planned Parenthood  Federation  of  America,  Inc.,  or  any  affiliate  or  clinic  of  Planned  Parenthood  Federation  of  America,  Inc.,  unless  such  entities  certify  that  Planned  Parenthood  Federation  of  America  affiliates  and  clinics  will  not  perform,  and  will  not  provide  any  funds  to  any  other  entity  that performs, an abortion during such period.

(b)  EXCEPTION.—Subsection  (a)  shall  not  apply  to  an abortion—

(1)  if  the  pregnancy  is  the  result  of  an  act  of  rape or incest; or
(2)  in  the  case  where  a  woman  suffers  from  a  physical  disorder,  physical  injury,  or  physical  illness  that  would,  as  certified  by  a  physician,  place  the  woman  in  danger  of  death  unless  an  abortion  is  performed,  including  a  life-endangering  physical  condition  caused  by  or  arising  from  the  pregnancy  itself

First, we’ll examine subsection (a).  Section (a), and indeed the entire bill, should have ended with a period after “or  any  affiliate  or  clinic  of  Planned  Parenthood  Federation  of  America,  Inc.”  But it didn’t.  Here in section (a), the bill exempts all Planned Parenthood clinics and affiliates that do not perform or provide funds to entities that perform abortions.  This is to say, Planned Parenthood is NOT being defunded where the affiliates and clinics are not “performing abortions.”  But even that is flawed, since there are various kinds of abortion, but that is not indicated in the law.  Surgical and medical abortions may be recognized by this part of the legislation, but what about chemical abortions as caused by so-called emergency contraception and the various other types of abortifacient contraception being dispensed by Planned Parenthood?

In subsection (b), the Planned Parenthood facilities that DO perform surgical and medical abortions for instances of rape, incest and so-called “life of the mother” exceptions are EXCEPTED from subsection (a).  In other words, a Planned Parenthood facility that performs abortion is not permitted to receive federal funding unless those abortions are deemed necessary as identified in the exceptions of subsection (b).  So, right off the bat, all Planned Parenthood has to do is either indicate that the abortion is for a rape or incest or have a staff physician certify that the mother’s life is at risk unless she has an abortion, and that Planned Parenthood facility can receive federal funding under the act that is supposed to deny them funding.

But it’s even worse than that.  Section 4 allocates $235 million in funding to other facilities, allowing for those facilities to performs abortions in the same set of exceptions identified in Section 3 (b).

SEC.  4.  FUNDING  FOR  COMMUNITY  HEALTH  CENTER  PROGRAM.

(a)  IN GENERAL—There  is  authorized  to  be  appropriated,  and  appropriated,  $235,000,000  for  the  community health center program under section 330 of the Public Health  Service  Act  (42  U.S.C.  254b),  in  addition  to  any  other funds made available to such program, for the period for  which  the  funding  limitation  under  section  3(a)  applies.
(b)  LIMITATION.—None  of  the  funds  authorized  or  appropriated  pursuant  to  subsection  (a)  may  be  expended  for  an  abortion  other  than  as  described  in  section  3(b).

In other words, not only will Planned Parenthood NOT be defunded, but $235 million will be going to community health centers that perform abortions under the same set of exceptions.

This entire bill is completely self-defeating, but this is what happens when organizations like National Right to Life beat a constant message of “you can’t pass legislation without exceptions” into the heads of politicians for 40 years.  The time for playing politics and counting heads is over.  Either we fight evil with the full force of our convictions, placing our hope and trust in Our Lady and Our Lord, praying and sacrificing unceasingly for the defeat of Planned Parenthood and the Culture of Death, or we throw in the towel.  We either defund this beast now, or we give up and go home.

This bill is nothing short of an unmitigated travesty and a disgrace.