Planned Parenthood Slams White House On Proposed ‘Gag Rule’

The latest example: the news Friday that his administration plans a partial reinstatement of Reagan administration regulations that restrict the use of federal family planning dollars by organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, that provide abortion, as well as less controversial forms of reproductive and other health care. The devastating effect of this ban is already being felt, as organizations are forced to choose between providing truthful, often life-saving information about abortion, and receiving funding that allows them to provide critical health care to the world’s neediest communities.

What’s the immediate impact on the millions of women who rely on Planned Parenthood for contraceptive care if Planned Parenthood were eliminated as a Title-X funded provider?

“The WNBA stands with Planned Parenthood against the Trump administration’s most recent attack on a woman’s right to affordable, safe and comprehensive health care”, WNBA president Lisa Borders said in a statement. That would mean housing their family planning services elsewhere – potentially in separate buildings and coordinated by separate staff and organizations from its abortion enterprise.

Congress allocated approximately $286 million for family planning in 2017.

The policy was derided as a “gag rule” by abortion rights supporters, a point challenged by the administration, which said counseling about abortion would be OK, but not referrals.

Smith was among more than 150 members of Congress called for the action on Title X in an April 30 letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

One of President Donald Trump’s first actions in office was to reinstate the “Mexico City Policy”, another name for a global gag rule that forbids any foreign non-governmental organizations from receiving funds from the US if they even mention the topic of abortion as a viable means of ending a pregnancy. President Trump was set to give a speech about them Tuesday night at a pro-life fundraiser. “Any grantees that perform, support, or refer for abortion have a choice – disentangle themselves from abortion or fund their activities with privately raised funds”.

Iowa lawmakers recently approved one of the nation’s strictest abortion laws, which bans almost all elective terminations of pregnancies once fetal heartbeats are detected, usually around the sixth week of gestation.

Just previous year the Trump administration’s effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood was defeated. They get $500 million a year in taxpayer money and then they turn around and donate money to the Democrats.

The need for consolidation signaled a victory to abortion opponents in Iowa, where the number of Planned Parenthood clinics has declined. These regulations result in some patients having to travel 4 to 9 hours from their homes, forcing them to take days off of work for a procedure, if surgical, lasts on average only 10 minutes and requires no general anesthesia. According to a study by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP) in 2015 an estimated 100,000 to 240,000 women in Texas ages 18 to 49 have attempted to end a pregnancy without medical consultation or care. The American Civil Liberties Union and National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association sued HHS this month over tweaks to funding criteria made earlier this year.

“I can not imagine a scenario in which public health groups would allow this effort to go unchallenged”, Marcella said.

Family planning programs that do not provide or refer for abortions are free to apply for grants.

Federal funding – from both Title X and Medicaid – is never used for abortions in the US, except in very rare cases involving rape or maternal life endangerment. She was uninsured. We doggedly pursued this woman to get her follow-up care where they discovered she had breast cancer and needed immediate care.

“The Reagan rule reinstated by the current administration finally creates a bright line of separation between abortion and family planning”.