99 Days | Center for Arizona Policy

99 Days

Progress

Everyone has an opinion of President Trump’s first 100 days in office. At CAP, we evaluate based on actions taken to preserve life, marriage and family, and religious freedom. With just one day left in the president’s first 100 days, we count a number of big wins, and some unfinished business.

President Trump has backed up his campaign pro-life rhetoric with action. He chose several pro-life leaders to help run the country. From Vice President Mike Pence, to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, HHS secretary Tom Price, and Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway. With this group of influential people, I am confident we will see more pro-life action in the future.

So far:

President Trump signed legislation erasing a last minute move by President Obama that secured taxpayer funds for Planned Parenthood. President Trump restored the long-standing practice of allowing states to apply for and decide whether to use Title X tax dollars to fund clinics that provide abortions. Obama had tried to tie states’ hands by prohibiting them from barring abortion clinics from Title X funds. Read more about it here.
Federal funds again cannot be used to support abortion abroad. President Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, ensuring federal tax dollars are not sent to international organizations that perform or support abortion. Read the memorandum here.

The United Nations Population Fund will be out $32.5 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars next year. President Trump eliminated the funding because the organization supports abortion and forced sterilization in China.

Justice Neil Gorsuch now sits on the U.S. Supreme Court. President Trump kept his promise to nominate strict constitutionalists to the high court. Justice Gorsuch has said in the past that life is “intrinsically valuable and intentional killing is always wrong.”

Although the replacement for Obamacare hasn’t yet materialized, I credit the president for supporting a replacement bill that redirects taxpayer funds from Planned Parenthood to community health centers that do not provide abortions.

President Trump has given the pro-life community good reason to be hopeful for the next 1,360 days.

Additionally, the Trump administration withdrew the Obama administration’s edict forcing public schools to open showers, locker rooms, and restrooms to both sexes or risk losing federal funds. President Trump’s move means school districts can again decide how best to protect all students’ privacy.

We’re still waiting

Ever since news broke in January that President Trump had a religious freedom executive order on his desk – we’ve been waiting. Several lawmakers earlier this month sent a letter to the president, urging him to sign the executive order protecting every American’s right to live and work according to his or her beliefs. Read the letter here.

The executive order would:

Secure one’s right to freely exercise one’s religion, not just “worship”
Include in the protections all organizations operated by religious principles, not just churches or charities
Effectively eliminate the abortion coverage mandate in Obamacare for faith-based organizations
Ensure the federal government does not discriminate against child welfare providers and adoption services based on their religious beliefs
Protect nonprofit organizations and federal government employees based on their religious beliefs or their stance on marriage

The letter from lawmakers includes a specific plea to President Trump to put an end to an Obamacare rule mandating religious organizations cover contraception, sterilizations, and abortion drugs.

Curiously, just this week, the Department of Justice signaled it would continue the Obama administration’s court battle with the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious organizations fighting the controversial mandate.