WASHINGTON — (CNN/WMAL) President Donald Trump privately signed a bill on Thursday that allows states to withhold federal money from organizations that provide abortion services, including Planned Parenthood.
The bill, which the President signed without any media present, reverses an Obama-era regulation that prohibited states from withholding money from facilities that perform abortions, arguing that many of these facilities also provide other family planning and medical services.
Federal law prohibits taxpayer dollars from funding abortions.
Planned Parenthood says 3% of the services it provides are abortions and the remaining funds go toward preventive health care, birth control, pregnancy tests and other women’s health services.
The signing comes weeks after Vice President Mike Pence, a social conservative, cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate after two Republicans opposed the measure.
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