"Thanks to action by Congress, Nebraska can now take new steps to protect unborn life by ensuring that these dollars are not used to fund abortion," Ricketts said.
Title X funds are technically banned from being used for abortion services by the federal government, though this is often not enforced at the state level. The new Nebraska budget plan would require clinics that provide abortions either to physically and financially separate abortion clinics from their other services, or to refuse Title X funding altogether.
"With this change, no health clinics can receive funding unless they are truly separate and independent of any entity that performs abortions," the governor's office said in a statement.
Tom Venzor, Executive Director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, applauded the governor's efforts to separate Title X funding from abortions.
"This provision in our state budget will finally end the use of Title X money to prop up and help finance the abortion industry in Nebraska," Venzor told CNA. "The policy will ensure that organizations and facilities that perform, counsel for, or refer for abortion will no longer receive state money through Title X, until they separate their abortion activity from their Title X services."
"We are thankful for a governor who works to affirm the protection of unborn life in our state," Venzor added. The budget proposal was officially unveiled by Ricketts on Wednesday in his annual State of the State speech. If enacted, it would potentially cut funding from Planned Parenthood clinics in Lincoln and Omaha which provide abortions and any other independent clinics that provide abortion services.