Republican Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee will introduce legislation Tuesday that would prevent the Biden administration from pulling Title X healthcare funding from states that do not promote abortion.
The States Choose Life Act would prohibit the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from “requiring a recipient or subrecipient of funds to provide referrals for abortion,” according to a copy of the legislation provided exclusively to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Tennessee passed legislation that restricts abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which usually occurs after the sixth week of pregnancy, in 2020, which took effect when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
“HHS should not bully states into propping up the abortion industry,” Green told the DCNF. “My States Choose Life Act puts HHS in its place by ensuring states have the right to choose life while not losing Title X healthcare funding.”
The Biden administration said in a March 20 letter that Green’s state was in noncompliance with the conditions to receive Title X funding, citing a 2021 rule requiring “abortion referrals upon client request.”
“The Secretary shall not require, as a condition on 8 receipt of funds under this title, that any recipient or sub-9 recipient of such funds provide— (1) referrals for pregnancy termination; or (2) information or counseling on options for 12 pregnancy termination that are unlawful in the 13 State where the family planning services are being 14 provided,” the text of the proposed legislation says.
#ICYMI: Yanking funding from Tennessee as punishment for defending life is wrong. @HHSgov should answer for it: pic.twitter.com/kRX1RggcRa
— Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) June 23, 2023
“While the policy does appear to provide instructions related to providing counseling and referral for prenatal care, no instructions are given for infant care, foster care, adoption, or pregnancy termination, which are all required to be provided upon request,” the March 20 letter said.
Green criticized the action in a Tuesday letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Republican Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee announced $100 million in grants from state funds for the purpose of aiding crisis pregnancy centers in February.
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