As promised, President Trump recently guided his administration to move toward a more pro-life (or at least neutral) stance on federal abortion funding. The new rules strip Title X funding of any “reproductive healthcare” centers that provide abortion referrals. It was a response to the decades-long argument that pro-life taxpayer should not be required to fund abortions with their tax dollars.

Now comes a report that close to 900 abortion clinics across the nation have closed their doors or are struggling to stay afloat as a result of the loss of federal funding.

Powertodecide.org released a breakdown of the impact of the ruling, lamenting the loss of “healthcare” services nationwide. The impact of just one simple rule change is stunning, no matter what side of the fence you sit on.

Already, more than 8.7 million women in 390 counties across the nation are at risk of losing affordable access to the birth control they need because the clinic they depend on has lost its Title X funding. To date, 876 clinics have been forced out of the program. Since the rule began to be enforced in August, stories of increased costs, shorter hours, and fewer services being offered have flooded in.

The report itself is framed from a pro-abortion stance. It paints the ruling as oppressive, but it should be noted that all the clinics that have so far chosen to close their doors or limit services did precisely that…they chose to close rather than comply. When pro-life pregnancy centers in California were forced to adapt to new state laws requiring they offer information about abortion services or lose state funding, they didn’t close. They chose to stay open in order to provide the myriad of services they offered to single mothers and low-income families.

Trump called the bluff of Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion lobby who constantly scream about “cancer screenings” and “birth control”. The common refrain is that less than 3% of what Planned Parenthood does involves abortion. If that is truly the case, removing federal funding from abortion-specific services shouldn’t have had much of an impact. With the celebrity class pretty much in lockstep on abortion those funds could be raised privately within days. In fact, we’ve watched it happen several times since Trump took office. Celebrities like Sarah Silverman and Debra Messing have spearheaded very successful campaigns to donate to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers in the name of Mike Pence or Trump. No one seemed to see the irony of being able to do themselves what they are asking the taxpayer to do.

If the new ruling denies federal funding for this one thing, but these clinics are saying women will literally die in the streets without the important care they provide wouldn’t an organization committed to women’s health simply comply and keep their doors open? All of the referral stuff can be offloaded to private organizations and activist groups.

But abortion is the sacred cow, and to admit that they are really only interested in providing abortions rather than actual healthcare would be to admit that the pro-life movement has been right about them all along. They are not committed to healthcare, only abortion.

The other leg of this issue is that there are still plenty of women’s health clinics being funded…they just aren’t abortion providers. Pro-life pregnancy centers that offer aid from the first test through to kindergarten have been seeing an increase in their funding access as the logjam at the top of the funding food chain finally begins to shake loose. Women still have options. Abortion is still legal. All that has changed is where the money is coming from.

The pro-abortion lobby feels entitled to tax dollars even though they boast the wealthiest donor base in politics.

It doesn’t make sense unless you can see the bigger picture.

For now, pro-lifers count this as a victory. Will we continue to see the tide turning? Will more clinics begin to comply rather than shut down or will the pro-abortion movement remain committed to the cause of women in name only?