Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has proposed a new draft bill that aims to defund Planned Parenthood by placing a one-year moratorium on federal funding to the organization, in line with the longstanding goal of many Republicans who oppose the organization’s provision of abortions.
The bill is Boebert’s first in the 118th Congress, which Republicans took control of in the midterm elections and are now pressing ahead with their “Commitment to America” agenda.
“The nation’s largest abortion provider has no business receiving taxpayer dollars,” Boebert said in a Jan. 20 press release. “Planned Parenthood claims these funds go to healthcare for women, but last year, Planned Parenthood performed a record number of abortions while also reducing the number of well-woman exams and breast cancer screenings it performed.”
The bill, named “Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2023” (pdf), aims to prohibit federal funds from being made available to the organization, or any of its affiliates or clinics, unless they certify that they will not perform abortions. Exceptions are made for abortions in cases of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is in danger.The legislation also requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture to recover any federal aid received by Planned Parenthood or its affiliates or clinics, in case of non-compliance with the certification that they will not perform abortions during the moratorium period.
Federal tax dollars that would have gone to Planned Parenthood would instead be directed to community health centers, according to the draft bill. Specifically, the bill seeks to redirect $235 million to such centers across the United States that provide healthcare to women.
Republicans have also introduced three other pro-life bills this week that seek to impose conditions on the use of abortion pills, restrict abortions due to a Down syndrome diagnosis, and curb federal funding for colleges and universities that have on-campus abortion clinics.
Boebert’s bill has been endorsed by Students for Life of America, the National Right to Life Committee, Heritage Action, and Concerned Women for America.
“There’s no single entity that stands to make a profit off the violence of abortion more than Planned Parenthood,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said in a statement.
“Deceitfully, Planned Parenthood guises their business model as one that helps women while their latest annual report shows they made $633 MILLION from taxpayers while ending 383,460 little lives in that same time frame,” Hawkins said, adding that screening services provided by Planned Parenthood have dropped by double digit percentages “proving they’re in the business of abortion.”
