title:  New Obama Rule Will STOP Republicans From Defunding Planned Parenthood – Forever
text: Republicans hate it. They really really hate it, but after more than seven years of trying to work across the aisle, President Obama s administration has given up and is taking matters into its own hands, this time to save Planned Parenthood, forever.The rule, by the Department of Health and Human Services, if enacted, would cut Title X funding to states that cut funding to Planned Parenthood.The Title X program provides basic preventive health care and family planning services for 4 million low-income Americans. About 85 percent of patients who use Title X have incomes below $23,500. Planned Parenthood serves about a third of those patients, using the $70 million a year it receives in Title X grants to subsidize contraceptives and cancer and sexually transmitted infection screenings for people who can t afford them. Title X does not allow any money to be used to pay for abortions for any reason.Still, politicians in 11 states have voted to block public funds from Planned Parenthood because its services include abortion. Republicans in Congress are also on a mission to defund the family planning provider, citing a series of debunked undercover videos produced by anti-abortion activists that purport to show Planned Parenthood selling fetal body parts. Source: Huffington PostRepublicans have had Planned Parenthood in their crosshairs for years. Ostensibly it s because Planned Parenthood performs abortions, but only three percent of what they do is about abortions. The rest is about family planning and both women s and men s health services. In other words, Planned Parenthood prevents far more abortions than they could ever perform.Besides, their objection to Planned Parenthood has nothing whatsoever to do with abortion. Republicans consistently cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, despite the fact that no federal money and very little state money goes toward abortions. In other words, it s highly unlikely you ve ever paid a penny in taxes that has gone to abort a fetus.So, what is the problem with Planned Parenthood? Well, the problem is that most Republicans in Congress and in the states believe it s the 18th century and that women should be punished for having sex. Sure, they might agree to Planned Parenthood performing mammograms, but g-d forbid they do anything with lady parts or anything that would imply a woman is having sex without a) being married and b) wanting to procreate.Just this week, Congress blocked funding to fight the Zika virus by you got it sticking an amendment in there that would block funding to Planned Parenthood.Perhaps that was the last straw and that s why the Department of Health and Human Services proposed this new rule.Planned Parenthood is breathing a sigh of relief: This will make a real difference in so many people s lives,  said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood.  Thanks to the Obama administration, women will still be able to access the birth control they need to plan their families, and the cancer screenings they need to stay healthy. That s not the only defeat anti-choice Republicans have faced this week. A judge in very conservative Utah ruled that the state cannot cut funding to Planned Parenthood.Perhaps this is a sign that the pendulum is finally beginning to swing the other direction. Perhaps soon, women will get a say in our own health choices.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.