President Donald J. Trump last week signed House Joint Resolution 43 into law, allowing states to withhold federal funds from facilities that provide abortions.

H.J. Res. 43, authored by Congresswoman Diane Black (R-Tenn.), was used by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to allow states to deny funding of family planning services, including abortion services, to women’s health care clinics, such as Planned Parenthood.

The city of West Hollywood released a statement in response, and said the city is “deeply alarmed.”

“H.J. Res. 43 rolls back protections put in place by the Obama Administration, which were intended to prevent conservative governors who oppose abortion and family planning services from denying Title X funding to women’s health care clinics,” the city said in a statement. “The Title X family planning program is a vital source of family planning and related preventive care for life-saving care to low-income people. It includes services such as birth control, cancer screenings and testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV – in addition to providing abortion services, which are non-government funded.”

The statement went on to say the exclusion of reproductive health care providers from publicly funded health programs “hurts people.”

“It harms health outcomes, widens disparities and creates new barriers to care,” the statement read. “When the very providers who are best suited to deliver Title X-funded services are targeted for exclusion based on factors wholly unrelated to the program’s objectives, then federal health care resources become poorly and inefficiently distributed. The result is that health care is less likely to reach individuals in need.”

The city said the resolution is another assault against women’s rights to choose and to make personal decisions related to personal and family health. The city of West Hollywood was the first city in the nation to declare itself pro-choice and it has continually supported state and federal legislation protecting and advancing women’s reproductive rights and access to healthcare.

“West Hollywood will not remain silent as efforts are made to take women back to an era of back-alley abortions – this is completely objectionable and the city of West Hollywood will continue to fight for women to be treated with respect, and for dignified healthcare for all,” the statement said. “Anything less is unacceptable.”

For information, contact Hernan Molina, the city of West Hollywood’s Governmental Affairs Liaison, at (323)848-6364 or at hmolina@weho.org. To share opinions with Congresswoman Black’s office, call (202)225-4231.