WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have expressed “deep concern” over a proposal from the Biden administration that would increase scrutiny of pro-life pregnancy centers and their qualifications for federal welfare funds.
A notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published on October 2 seeks to amend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) federal welfare program and specifically takes aims at pro-life centers. The proposal is sponsored by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
On December 1, a letter signed by 29 federal lawmakers was submitted to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, expressing “deep concern” over the proposal’s language, which they accused of “targeting [pro-life] pregnancy centers” by disqualifying them from receiving funds from the TANF.
As detailed in the proposal, one of the purposes of the federal welfare program is to “prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies.” Other purposes include to “provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives” and “encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.”
As part of its suggested amendment to the program’s language, the federal government agencies are honing in on pro-life pregnancy centers as organizations that would need to especially prove that their service “actually accomplishes the TANF purpose.”
“Programs that only or primarily provide pregnancy counseling to women only after they become pregnant likely do not meet the reasonable person standard because the connection to preventing and reducing out-of-wedlock pregnancies is tenuous or non-existent, and therefore do not accomplish purpose three,” the NPRM claims.
It goes on to specify that “states that provide funding for these types of programs, including through entities sometimes known as crisis pregnancy centers or pregnancy resource centers, must be able to show that the expenditure actually accomplishes the TANF purpose, or that there is academic or other research indicating that the expenditure could reasonably be expected to accomplish the TANF purpose.”
Additionally, the proposal states that any “pregnancy prevention programming” offered by pro-life centers will receive funding “only [for] those costs associated with delivery of pregnancy prevention” and not “other activities” such as more comprehensive “after-school programming.”
Republican lawmakers slam Biden proposal’s ‘unfair’ depiction of pro-life centers
In response to the proposed language change, Republican lawmakers sent a letter to the HHS “to express our deep concern” and “urge you to withdraw [the proposal] immediately.” The letter defends the right of pro-life centers to have funding instead of the government “depriving pregnant women in need of compassionate assistance for themselves and their unborn babies.”
“Alternatives to abortion programs, and the pregnancy centers they support, provide services that fulfill all four purposes of TANF, but the proposed rule inaccurately describes these programs as limited to ‘only or primarily provid[ing] pregnancy counseling to women only after they become pregnant’ and only relevant for preventing and reducing out of wedlock pregnancy,” states the letter.
The GOP lawmakers pointed out that pregnancy resource centers provide a wide range of services related to pregnancy, parenting, sexual risk avoidance, and employment and housing assistance. The letter described the proposal’s depiction of pro-life centers as “unfair,” “targeting,” and a “glaring hypocrisy,” saying that the “HHS does not cite any evidence” that these centers “are unlawfully using federal funds for non-TANF purposes.”
The lawmakers also noted that affiliates of Planned Parenthood “reported expending $1.04 million in TANF funds in 2018” and that the HHS has “not rais[ed] concerns” that they are associated with America’s largest abortion business despite TANF funds not being allowed to be used for abortion.
“Women deserve better than abortion and should receive support when they choose life for their babies,” the letter concludes.
The notoriously pro-abortion Biden administration has a history of targeting pro-life pregnancy centers. In the aftermath of the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade, the HHS was charged with cracking down on the centers, which Democrats often attack for not offering or promoting abortion.
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