{"articles":[{"id":33231,"title":"The DC: Planned Parenthood leaves Title X program, and... 🛐 Do you support expanding the 'religious exemption' in hiring?","html_content":"

by Causes | 8.20.19

Welcome to Tuesday, August 20, LPs, CDs, and MP3s...

Planned Parenthood is leaving the Title X family planning program.

Planned Parenthood has announced that it will withdraw from the $286 million Title X program to avoid complying with the Trump administration's \"gag rule,\" which bans federally-funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions

Established in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act, Title X provides comprehensive family planning and related preventative health services primarily to low-income and uninsured individuals at little to no cost.

“Due to an unethical and dangerous gag rule, the Trump administration has forced Planned Parenthood grantees out of Title 10,” Acting President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Alexis McGill Johnson told journalists on a conference call. “When you have an unethical rule that will limit what providers can tell our patients, it becomes really important that we not agree to be in the program.\"

The Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement on Monday, saying groups that refused to comply with the rule “are now blaming the government for their own actions.”

“They are abandoning their obligations to serve their patients under the program,\" HHS said.

Should federally-funded family planning clinics be banned from referring women for abortions?

On the Radar

Losing My (Job Over) Religion

The Trump administration has revealed a proposal that would allow federal contractors to make employment decisions “consistent with their sincerely held religious tenets and beliefs.”

The Labor Department said “the proposed rule would clarify that religious organizations may make employment decisions consistent with their sincerely held religious tenets and beliefs without fear of sanction by the federal government.”

Rachel Laser, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, argued the new rule means \"a government contractor could cite religion to refuse to hire a single mom or someone who is LGBTQ.\"

“And now any for-profit corporation that claims it’s religious can take taxpayer dollars and fire someone who is a religious minority – so fire me, for example, because I’m Jewish,\" Laser said.

Should federal contractors be allowed to use religion as a criterion for hiring and firing?

Surgeon's General Warning

The Food and Drug Administration is proposing 13 new warning labels for cigarette packs that depict graphic images of the effects of smoking, including cancerous neck tumors, diseased lungs and feet with amputated toes.

\"While the public generally understands that cigarette smoking is dangerous, there are significant gaps in their understanding of all of the diseases and conditions associated with smoking,\" said FDA's tobacco director Mitch Zeller.

“When you look at the current warnings on the side of cigarette packs, they are virtually invisible. The diseases embedded in these images will improve public understanding of the negative consequences of cigarette smoking.”

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco spokeswoman Neassa Hollon countered that they \"firmly support public awareness of the harms of smoking cigarettes, but the manner in which those messages are delivered to the public cannot run afoul of the First Amendment protections that apply to all speakers, including cigarette manufacturers.”

Do you support graphic warning labels on cigarettes?

Under the Radar

Countable’s Summer 2019 Bill Acronym Bracket

In honor of Congress’ August recess and politicians’ penchant for the pithy bill acronyms, we’ve put together another tournament in which you, Countable users, choose the best bill acronym of the 116th Congress.

Countable’s selection committee has picked 16 of the most creatively-titled pieces of legislation this Congress has introduced. The winner of this round will face off in next week’s semifinals, and you’ll be able to vote for your favorite through Thursday. May the best bill acronym win!

Preventing Unkind and Painful Procedures and Experiments on Respected Species (PUPPERS) Act? Stop Significant and Time-wasting Abuse Limiting Legitimate Innovation of New Generics (Stop STALLING) Act? Clean Legislating and Ethical Accountability Now (CLEAN) Act? Guaranteed Refugee Admission Ceiling Enhancement (GRACE) Act?

Click here to cast your vote for the quarterfinals!

Your Gov at a Glance 👀

The White House: President Trump in D.C.

At 12:45pm EDT, the president will have lunch with the vice president.
At 2:10pm EDT, the president will participate in a bilateral meeting with the president of Romania.
At 2:30pm EDT, the president will participate in an expanded bilateral meeting with the president of Romania.

The House of Representatives: Out

The House will return Monday, September 9th.

The Senate: Out

The Senate will return Monday, September 9th.

What You're Saying

Here's how you're answering Should Individuals Harmed by Sanctuary City Policies be Allowed to Pursue Civil Remedies?

(Follow Jasen's comment here.)

(Follow RjGoodman's comment here.)

But wait, there's more!

And, in the End…

On August 20, 1939, the National Bowling Association was founded in Detroit, Michigan.

The TNBA was the first bowling association in the U.S. for African Americans.

Give Spotify a break and check your FM in honor of National Radio Day,

—Josh Herman

Talk to us via email at contact [at] countable.us. And don’t forget to keep in touch @Countable.

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