Biden to roll back Trump’s abortion rules

Joe bidenJoe Biden Biden spoke to some GOP senators, chief of staff said Trump told advisers he could announce 2024 candidacy soon after Biden’s victory is certified: report Obama is ‘troubled’ by GOP attempts to cast doubt on election results: ‘This is a dangerous path’ is expected to reverse many of the Trump administration’s changes to sexual and reproductive health programs, reversing much of the President’s executive actions on abortion and women’s health.

Abortion rights and women’s health care advocates predict the Biden administration will move quickly to reverse a myriad of Trump-era rules, including those that allow more employers to step out of office ObamaCare’s contraceptive plan and to ban the use of federal family planning dollars for domestic and foreign organizations that provide or promote abortions.

“We believe that many of these issues could be resolved on day one, in an executive order that explicitly speaks of the new administration’s commitment to sexual and reproductive health care,” said Jacqueline Ayers, vice president of government relations and public policy of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. .

“I think it’s a great win, but we know we’re going to have a lot of work to do because it’s not just about righting the wrongs of the past four years, but really making sure that we move forward on the ball. and advancing health care through truly bold change.

The biggest challenge facing abortion right supporters going forward could be the mark Trump left on the country’s courts. Trump has appointed three Supreme Court justices in four years, including a replacement at the court’s liberal pillar, Justice Ruth bader ginsburgRuth Bader Ginsburg Will the Supreme Court remove ObamaCare from life support? Poll: Slim Majority Backs Addition of Supreme Court Seats Top Conservative Justices Express Openness to Preserving ObamaCare Protections READ MORE.

Trump and the GOP Senate have also been filling lower court vacancies at a breakneck pace, leaving a considerable Conservative legacy. If the Senate remains in the hands of the GOP, it may be difficult for a President Biden to leave such a big mark.

But Biden is expected to act in his early days administratively.

Advocates of a rule are particularly poised to see it disappear, which has enabled hundreds of thousands of fewer people to benefit from contraception and other services through the government-funded Title X family planning program federal, who are disproportionately colored.

The rule, finalized last year by people appointed by Trump at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), prohibits Title X claimants from promoting or performing abortions. He appeared to be targeting Planned Parenthood, one of Title X’s biggest vendors and a long-time target of Republicans.

The move, which has been denounced by women’s health groups and the non-partisan American Medical Association as interfering with the doctor-patient relationship, resulted in 800,000 fewer people receiving Title X care in 2019.

“Trump regulations have devastated the Title X network,” said Amy Moy, director of external affairs for Essential Access Health, the largest recipient of Title X in California and the country.

Their network will serve less than 250,000 patients in California this year, a reduction of nearly 75% after the regulations come into effect.

“It is our hope and expectation that very early in the new administration there will be swift action to reverse the regulations of the Trump era and begin to reset and remedy the damage that has been done.

Title X was created 50 years ago by Congress with bipartisan support to provide low-income women and men with contraception, cancer screenings and other services. He has become politicized in recent years.

While federal funds, including Title X money, cannot pay for abortions in most cases, conservatives have argued that any funding given to abortion providers would indirectly support the procedure.

Dozens of state health organizations felt they couldn’t comply with the new rules and walked away, resulting in the loss of 945 Title X service sites across the country. While the Trump administration has argued that it will find suppliers who comply with the new rules, it has failed to close the gap.

In 2019, it served 3.1 million people, up from 3.9 million in 2018, before the rules came into force.

Six States now have no suppliers participating in Title X.

“It’s critical that a Biden administration acts as quickly as possible, on day one or within 100 days, to get the money back to providers, especially jurisdictions that don’t have Title X services at the moment,” said Jessica Marcella, vice president of advocacy and communications for National Family Planning and Reproductive Health, a membership organization for Title X providers.

Marcella said some providers who left the program under Trump have struggled without federal funding and that if they close they are unlikely to reopen, leaving communities without dedicated family planning care clinics.

“The reality is that health centers are holding up wherever possible, recognizing that a Biden administration values ​​public health. Even now, there are health centers on the verge of closing, just trying to hang on to a reversal of fortune and restoring the integrity of Title X as a program they can participate in, ” Marcella said.

While some states like Massachusetts and Vermont have pledged to help providers who had left the program, Marcella questions whether the program will remain a priority as states face budget deficits induced by COVID-19.

Some providers like Planned Parenthood continue to serve patients they saw through Title X, but have had to start charging copay for some services.

Supporters are also hoping that having a Democratic president and a Democratic majority in the House will mean an increase in funding for Title X, which has not received a boost since 2014.

Biden also pledged to overturn the ban on global health aid for foreign organizations that perform or promote abortion. The so-called “Mexico City Politics” – named after the city where former President Ronald Reagan first announced the ban – has become a political football game, canceled when Democratic presidents take office and are removed. reinstated by the Republicans.

It will also re-issue Obama-era directives that the Trump administration rescinded that states cannot cancel family planning from their Medicaid programs.

Supporters also want Biden to repeal a Trump rule that allows health workers with moral or religious exemptions from certain procedures, such as abortions, to refuse to provide those services.

Biden is also expected to remove a requirement issued in 2011 that abortion pills should only be prescribed in person at specific health care facilities.

It’s unclear how much of a priority reproductive health issues will be for Biden during his early days in office, but advocates argue it should be high on his agenda.

“The Biden administration has made it clear that three of its top priorities are the economy, tackling COVID and racial inequality in the United States, and sexual and reproductive health is linked to these three issues,” Zara said. Ahmed, associate director of federal issues at Guttmacher. Institute, a reproductive health policy organization.