9th Circuit upholds abortion defunding rule 

The Trump administration has the right to withhold federal family planning funding from facilities that provide or refer for abortions, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday. In a 7-4 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the U.S. Supreme Court already approved nearly identical regulations in 1991.

What do the regulations do? Title X pays for family-planning services for low-income patients. Previously, abortion providers like Planned Parenthood could receive Title X funds but not spend them on abortions. Critics said the money could serve as backdoor abortion funding by supporting the administrative costs of facilities. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ruled that Title X recipients could not share a building with an abortion center or refer patients for abortion. Planned Parenthood pulled out of the program entirely, losing about $60 million a year in government money.

Dig deeper: Read Samantha Gobba’s report in Vitals about why pro-life advocates welcomed the Title X changes.