A group of 41 Republican senators want President Trump to issue new regulations that would bar recipients of family planning grants from co-locating with an abortion clinic and promoting or referring clients for abortions.
In a Monday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, the senators called for an update to regulations governing Title X family planning grants, which are given to organizations that give reproductive healthcare to low-income families and expectant mothers. They say the agency’s current regulations undermine federal law that states federal funding cannot be used in programs in which abortion is a method of family planning.
The letter said the current Clinton-era regulations require grantees to refer pregnant women for abortion and allow “Title X clinics to co-locate with abortion clinics — in some cases utilizing the same waiting rooms, staff and facilities.”