Federally funded clinics barred from offering abortion help under new rule
Under new rule, family planning programs that receive funding are banned from operating in facilities that also provide abortions
The Trump administration has issued a rule that bars federally funded family planning programs from referring women for abortions. The move could strip millions of federal dollars from Planned Parenthood and divert it toward faith-based care providers.
The rule, released on Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will be challenged in court. On Friday, Oregon attorney general Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat, announced that she would file suit.
“Medical providers, no matter what kind of service they perform, must be able to have candid conversations with patients about all options for care, and without fear that if they say the word ‘abortion’ their clinic could lose federal funds,” Rosenblum said in a statement.
“This rule, if implemented, will mean that health clinics that serve so many Oregon women and families around our state may have to close. This is not acceptable, and I will do everything I can to prevent this from happening.”
Under the rule, clinics that receive federal family planning funding are prohibited from operating in facilities that also provide abortions, imposing what it described as “financial and physical” separation.
Though US law prohibits the use of federal family planning funds to pay for abortions, conservative anti-abortion activists argue that groups that provide the procedure are supported indirectly.
Planned Parenthood, which provides a range of reproductive health services including abortions, said the new rule amounts to a “gag rule” because it forces doctors to withhold medical information from patients.
“Imagine if the Trump administration prevented doctors from talking to our patients with diabetes about insulin,” said Leana Wen, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.
“It would never happen. Reproductive healthcare should be no different.”
Known as Title X, the nation’s $286m family-planning program serves roughly four million mostly low-income women each year, through independent clinics. Planned Parenthood says it serves more than 40% of Title X patients.
Republicans in Congress have tried unsuccessfully to “defund” Planned Parenthood and Donald Trump won the support of social conservatives with a promise to champion that effort.
On Friday, anti-abortion and religious groups applauded the move and praised the Trump administration for keeping a campaign promise.
“The Title X program was not intended to be a slush fund for abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the anti-abortion group Susan B Anthony List.
