President Donald Trump is preparing to to gut a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that has been accused of pushing the Democrats’ radical ideology onto Americans.
From the very first day of the current federal government shutdown, Trump warned Democrats that their foot-dragging on a continuing resolution would likely result in significant cuts to programs and agencies they hold dear.
Trump is making good on that promise, as the Daily Caller reports.
The president is now working to gut an HHS office that critics blame for the entrenchment of far-left abortion and gender ideology policies within the federal ranks.
At issue is the Office of Population Affairs (OPA), the stated mission of which is to further “reproductive health outcomes and adolescent health and wellbeing by supporting high-quality clinical services, evidence-based and innovative programs, rigorous research and evaluation.”
However, critics of the office believe that the agency has been a conduit through which far-left policies have been advanced throughout various arms of the federal government.
Though the OPA is intended to facilitate Title X of the Public Health Service Act, providing grants to support a “broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and related preventive health services,” detractors suggest that the mission has been altered to suit more partisan aims.
Pregnancy prevention has been a top priority, it has been claimed.
While the statute that OPA is designed to implement prohibits federal funding of abortions, the Biden administration initiated something of a workaround that facilitated referrals for pregnancy termination services.
Adding to the controversy, according to the outlet, is the fact that staffers affiliated with pro-abortion groups were effectively embedded within the office.
In addition, the OPA also endorsed and published materials promoting “gender-affirming care” for minors and distributed sexually explicit content.
It was on October 10 that approximately 30 employees at OPA received reduction-in-force (RIF) notifications.
The notices indicate that the job cuts they entailed were permanent in nature and not temporary measures stemming from the government shutdown.
Staffers inside the OPA were reportedly locked out of their email accounts and government laptops as of Friday evening.
The number of cuts implemented represents, practically speaking, the effective shuttering of the office.
The scenario that has been met with praise from Republicans such as pro-life Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL).
Speaking to the Daily Caller News Foundation, Miller stated:
“The Office of Population Affairs has long used taxpayer dollars to advance the leftist agenda targeting children and the unborn.”
Miller continued, “I applaud the Trump Administration’s efforts to root out far-left programs in the federal government that undermine the very fabric of our country.”
Democrats upset by the effective end of the OPA may want to tread carefully in terms of prolonging the government shutdown, particularly in light of Trump’s recent warning that the stalemate gives his administration the chance to close “Democrat programs that we want to close up or we never wanted to happen.”
With the president pledging that such initiatives are “never going to come back in many cases,” it seems that Democrats in Congress would be wise to bring the shutdown to a rapid end lest they suffer even deeper cuts to departments and priorities they hold dear.
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