President Trump Reaches Out to Pastors as Part of Impressive Pro-life Mission
President Donald Trump has issued new rules for the federal government’s family planning program, a move that will likely cost Planned Parenthood 10 percent of its taxpayer funding.
The move, announced Feb. 24, has capped off two busy pro-life months for the president, including a national, motivational conference call to thousands of pastors and pro-life activists.
The new Protect Life Rule was announced by the Department of Health and Human Services, barring the use of Title X money "to perform, promote, refer for, or support abortion as a method of family planning," Baptist Press reported.
The news service said the rule would impact the reported $50–$60 million Planned Parenthood receives annually from the federal government. In the most recent year of complete statistics, the abortion chain and its affiliates collected $563.8 million in government grants and reimbursements and performed more than 332,757 abortions, according to the Baptist Press.
This rule is the latest action taken by President Trump, who is establishing a solid legacy of protecting the unborn. In recent weeks, Trump has blasted the Democratic Party’s efforts to allow late-term abortion, including proposed new laws that would allow full-term babies born alive to be left to die — a practice he has equated as “execution” on at least three occasions since his State of the Union address on February 5.
In response to these attempts, the Senate attempted to pass the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.” The Born-Alive bill would mandate that babies born alive following botched abortions must receive medical care. However, the final vote was 53-44, seven votes short of the 60 required for passage, with all but three Democrat senators voting “no.”
President Trump quickly followed the vote result with a tweet, saying, "This will be remembered as one of the most shocking votes in the history of Congress. If there is one thing we should all agree on, it’s protecting the lives of innocent babies."
The tweet mirrored comments the president made during an invitation-only national conference call with pastors and pro-life leaders on February 14, on which Church United participated. Although the phone exchange was off-the-record, several people shared details of the conversation with news outlets. Pastor Mike Evans told Charisma magazine that Trump discussed recent incendiary comments made by Virginia Gov. RalphNortham to radio station WTOP.
"[Third trimester abortions are] done in cases where there may be severe deformities,” Northam said during the radio interview. “There may be a fetus that's nonviable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother."
Pastor Evans said Trump likened such a move as “an execution of a child." White House Director of Strategic Communications, Mercedes Schlapp, echoed this view during an interview with Christian Broadcast News. "As [Trump] said in the State of the Union, it's executing a baby," she said.
Schlapp added that she cannot fathom that a governor, the governor of Virginia, would promote parents keeping their baby comfortable, and then deciding to either keep or kill the infant after a botched abortion.
In addition to highlighting the “left’s” abortion agenda, the conference call also afforded the president the opportunity to encourage pastors and other pro-life leaders who are diligently working to protect babies — unborn and now, unfortunately, the just-born.
“He spoke about the horrors of late-term abortion, in particular, and wanted to give them the motivation and strength to keep fighting and moving what he called the ‘pro-life movement.’”
The president also said, “This is a moment in time where we need to make sure that their voices are heard in this fight and to ensure that we don’t — that our country doesn’t — go in this extreme direction..” Schlapp said.
Pastor Evans agreed: "He [Trump] also said every child that is born is created in the image of God and that they all have dreams, and all deserve the right to reach their full potential. He also mentioned that he had seen progress in the last two weeks on this subject, and that he was hopeful there would be significant legislation he could pass [in the future] that proposes this agenda. Lastly, he mentioned how he looked forward to a time when there'd be a signing celebration at the White House."
Some of that hope was dashed, however, following the Senate’s failure to pass the Born-Alive bill. Although the pro-life community has been consistent in its efforts to limit abortion access, there has been an increased sense of urgency in recent months as pro-abortion politicians continue to press for more radical abortion protections. On Jan. 22, the 46thanniversary of Roe v. Wade, New York Governor, Mario Cuomo, signed into law theReproductive Health Act. This expands access to third-term abortions and allows the procedures to be performed by non-physicians. To celebrate the signing, he ordered that the spire of One World Trade Center, the Alfred E. Smith Building in Albany, and two bridges be lit up in pink, the Federalist reported.
That legislation sparked a rebuke from Trump during his State of the Union address. “Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth,” the president said in his speech. “These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world.”
As pro-abortion efforts to expand access to abortions intensify under the guise of “women’s health,” the president has kept pace. The Valentine’s Day conference call was said to have been at least the third one in recent weeks. In January, the president signed a letter to Congress making it clear that he will veto any legislation that weakens existing federal protections of the unborn.
In addition, the Trump administration has:
- Reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, preventing foreign aid from being used to support abortion.
- Issued a proposed regulation to ensure taxpayers that their dollars from the Title X family planning program will not be used to fund abortions.
- Supported faith-based adoption agencies.
- Appointed dozens of pro-life judges to federal courts, including Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
- Worked to protect “conscience rights” of pro-life medical professionals.