In strong support of H.J. Res. 43, Rep. Smith delivered the following statement on the floor during debate in the House today:

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished Chair, Mrs. Black, for her leadership on this resolution.

     Many Americans oppose giving tax dollars to Planned Parenthood, 56% according to a November 2016 poll.

     And with good reason.

     Subsidized by over $500 million taxpayers’ dollars each year, Planned Parenthood dismembers or chemically poisons a baby to death every two minutes—killing over 7 million innocent children since 1973.

     Planned Parenthood is “Child Abuse Incorporated.”  Undercover videos in 2015 exposed in numbing candor, several high-level Planned Parenthood leaders nonchalantly talking about procuring children’s organs for a price. They describe altering gruesome dismemberment procedures to preserve intact livers, hearts and lungs from freshly killed babies.

     All of this begs the question: Why are taxpayers giving half a billion dollars each year to Planned Parenthood?

     H.J. Res. 43 allows states to redirect funds away from abortion providers and does not reduce funds for the Title X program—those funds are just redirected to other health clinics that provide women’s health care and don’t engage in abortion.

     And yet, in mid-December, on his way out the door, former President Barack Obama finalized a rule that coerces states to fund Planned Parenthood with their Title X grant money.

     Prior to the Obama rule, 5 states had chosen to award their Title X funds to non-Planned Parenthood entities.

     These 5 states —Tennessee, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Ohio —account for nearly $16 million in annual Title X funding and serve over 279,000 individuals a year.

     Those states redirected these funds to other health clinics, including county health departments and federally qualified health centers.

     But under the Obama rule these state grant recipients are threatened with losing all Title X support if they do not comply.

     This is the definition of coercion —the Obama Administration essentially told states “you must use your family planning dollars to support abortion providers, or we will take away your family planning dollars.”

     The resolution before us today allows those states who have chosen to redirect their Title X dollars away from Planned Parenthood to be free to do so.

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