Buried deep in the 391-page Every Student Succeeds Act (S. 1177) is a section that references an existing requirement in the Public Health Service Act that "school-based health centers," which receive public funds, may not provide abortions.

Buried deep in the 391-page Every Student Succeeds Act (S. 1177) is a section that references an existing requirement in the Public Health Service Act that "school-based health centers," which receive public funds, may not provide abortions.

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Republican lawmakers slipped a somewhat tangential reference to a ban on abortion funding in a bipartisan education law signed Thursday by President Obama.

Buried deep in the 391-page Every Student Succeeds Act (S. 1177) is a section that references an existing requirement in the Public Health Service Act that “school-based health centers,” which receive public funds, may not provide abortions:

Notwithstanding section 8102, funds used for activities under this Act shall be carried out in accordance with the provision of section 399z–1(a)(3)(C) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280h–5(a)(3)(C)).

Included in the Public Health Service Act, which dedicates funds to qualified facilities, is a description of school-based health centers:

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The term ‘‘school-based health center’’ means a health clinic that— (A) meets the definition of a school-based health center under section 1397jj(c)(9)(A) of this title and is administered by a sponsoring facility (as defined in section 1397jj(c)(9)(B) of this title); (B) provides, at a minimum, comprehensive primary health services during school hours to children and adolescents by health professionals in accordance with established standards, community practice, reporting laws, and other State laws, including parental consent and notification laws that are not inconsistent with Federal law; and (C) does not perform abortion services.

An emailed announcement on Friday from the anti-choice group March for Life Action credited House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline, a Republican, for “taking this initiative.” Republicans have led a charge to strip funding from health-care providers like Planned Parenthood, and pushed through a bill to gut Planned Parenthood’s funding last week.

“Chairman Kline saw the opportunity to stop one of those spigots and he turned it off, to the benefit of all taxpayers,” Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action, said in the announcement.

According to the March for Life Action statement, “S. 1177 permanently codifies an abortion funding prohibition for the entire Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), for the first time adding the education authorization to the programs like the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the Department of Defense that contain permanent pro-life funding protections.”

There’s some debate over whether Republicans should take a victory lap over the inclusion of the language.

The conservative Americans for Limited Government blasted the language in the Every Student Succeeds Act for “tying funds for school-based health centers to compliance with the Public Health Service Act, which explicitly allows Planned Parenthood eligible [clinics] to receive funds, the possibility of new funding is opened.”

The act doesn’t include a specific reference to Planned Parenthood.