This week marked the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt, a landmark case that decided abortion clinics do not need to be held to the same common sense health and safety standards of other outpatient surgical facilities.
I’ll never forget that day. It was a terrible blow not only to the March for Life and our allies, but also to women. Abortion clinics had essentially been given a pass. The political nature of the procedure outweigh its dangers, lowering the bar on women’s health under the guise of greater access to abortion.
{mosads}Frankly, that was a bleak month. Over the following weeks, the Democratic National Committee announced their platform, which included the most radical stance on abortion in the party’s history. Not only did the platform fall out of touch with mainstream America by advocating for unlimited access to abortion until the time of birth, it also took the extreme stance of eliminating the Hyde Amendment, which has long been a popular, bipartisan policy, protecting taxpayer dollars from paying for most abortions.
With a Supreme Court seat at stake after the court’s detrimental decision against women’s healthcare and a DNC platform that pushed abortion on-demand, it is fair to say that this month played an integral role in shaping the 2016 presidential election.
I know it motivated my vote. On election day, I wore a t-shirt that said, “Keep Calm and March for Life”. Like many other Americans I stayed up all night watching the results come in. Like many other American I was shocked as the results rolled in.
Donald Trump made promises to protect the dignity of human life during his campaign, and has made good on them since. Days after his inauguration, President Trump publicly encouraged the media to cover the March for Life, and only one week into the Trump Administration, he sent Vice President Mike Pence as the first ever Vice President (or President) to speak in person at the March for Life.
One of his first actions in office was to reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which defunds International Planned Parenthood and stops U.S. funds from paying for abortions abroad.
The Title X Congressional Review Act is now the law of the land, giving states the freedom to choose recipients of family planning funding, and President Trump’s first budget draft redirected federal tax dollars away from the Planned Parenthood, our nation’s largest abortion provider, to Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers — which outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics 20:1.
In the next few weeks, this administration will have a chance to solidify their commitment to life with a new healthcare bill. While the current bill in the Senate will temporarily defund Planned Parenthood, it is also likely that Hyde-like protections covering tax credits will be stripped away, leaving in place what many “pro-lifers” consider to be the most egregious aspect of ObamaCare.
One year ago, the Supreme Court decided that abortion providers did not need to meet the same healthcare standards as other outpatient facilities, so why should they receive the same funding?
Abortion is not healthcare, and now, with a chance to repeal the Affordable Care Act, this administration can finally set the record straight once and for all.
Jeanne Mancini is the president of March for Life.
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