If the adage “As goes Texas, so goes the Nation” holds any truth, we can be hopeful that the newly introduced legislation by Tennessee Congresswoman, Diane Black, will propel the issue of taxpayer funding of abortion facilities into national discussion again.
In 2011, the Texas Legislature voted to bar abortion providers and their affiliates from receiving state tax dollars in the Women’s Health Program. Texas also passed the most Pro-Life budget in history, stripping an additional $64.2 million in taxpayer funds from abortion businesses and their affiliates.
Now Congress is looking to follow Texas’ example.
The legislation proposed by Congresswoman Black, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, would keep tax dollars out of the abortion industry by preventing the Secretary of Health and Human Services (currently the pro-abortion, former Kansas state governor, Kathleen Sebelius) from providing any federal family planning assistance to an entity or any affiliates that commit abortion.
Similar legislation was proposed less than a year ago, but was thwarted by President Obama and pro-abortion members of the Senate.
Texas has heeded the will of her people by legally redirecting state tax dollars away from the abortion industry to clean healthcare agencies. Congress is also, once again, trying to honor the wishes of the American people, but whether the pro-abortion majority in the Senate and Planned Parenthood’s biggest fan – Barack Obama – will allow that to pass is yet to be seen.
Currently, there are 135 cosponsors of H.R. 217, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, 18 of whom are delegates from Texas. Information and text from the bill can be found here.