2/12/2018

HHS/LEGAL/PLANNED PARENTHOOD/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A conservative legal organization worked with the Trump administration to make it easier for states to defund Planned Parenthood, according to documents obtained by congressional Democrats and shared with POLITICO.
HHS last month told states they no longer have to comply with Obama administration policy that made it difficult for states to exclude the women’s health group from their Medicaid programs — an announcement timed to the March of Life anti-abortion rally. HHS received a draft legal analysis from the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom a week before the announcement, according to House Oversight Committee ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings.
Cummings cited a whistleblower who shared emails and documents…
Neither HHS nor the Alliance Defending Freedom immediately responded to a request for comment… The letter HHS ultimately issued was dramatically shorter and less expansive than the draft. In the January letter, HHS said additional guidance could be forthcoming. Cummings said the letters achieved the same result and demanded that HHS turn over more documents related to the latest Medicaid letter.”

-Jennifer Haberkorn, “Trump’s HHS worked with conservative group on Planned Parenthood policy,” Politico, Feb. 12, 2018 12:32pm