February 24, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – The Trump administration may continue to enforce a rule mandating that recipients of federal planning funds, such as Planned Parenthood, separate themselves from abortion activities, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday.
The administration’s Protect Life Rule requires “clear financial and physical separation between Title X-funded projects and programs or facilities where abortion is a method of family planning” and bans “referral for abortion as a method of family planning.” The abortion lobby has responded with multiple lawsuits, and Planned Parenthood chose to withdraw from Title X rather than comply with the new conditions. Abortion proponents have dubbed the rule a “gag rule.”
A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit lifted a temporary injunction against enforcing the rule last June, and the full court affirmed that decision Monday, Bloomberg Law reports.
Judge Sandra Ikuta wrote the majority opinion, which reportedly predicted that lawsuits brought in California, Oregon, and Washington “will not succeed” on the merits.
The Planned Parenthood Action Fund responded to the news by declaring the Protect Life rule “unethical” and “dangerous,” and calling on Congress to reverse it, which would require Democrats to oust President Donald Trump in November, keep the House of Representatives, and retake the Senate.
Today, a federal court upheld the Trump admin’s unethical, dangerous Title X gag rule — denying relief for patients across the country who depend on Planned Parenthood and other Title X providers for birth control and other care.
Congress must reverse the gag rule. #ProtectX
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) February 24, 2020
The Protect Life Rule is projected to cut almost $60 million from the $616 million Planned Parenthood received during the most recent fiscal year.