Family planning faces critical decision after abortion and referral restriction continues

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The following week, HHS announced to Title X recipients that the new bylaw would come into force despite ongoing court challenges. Planned Parenthood then lobbied the court for it to reconsider its decision.

Planned Parenthood stated that it would withdraw from the Title X program rather than participate in the so-called "gag rule". The Title X program serves about 4 million people a year, according to HHS. Family planning covers 40% of Title X patients and has been participating in the program since the beginning, according to the organization.

Critics say the regulation would mainly affect communities of color, low-income people, uninsured people and rural residents.

"The plenary court was informed of the request for review in plenary court and no judge asked to vote on the opportunity to re-examine the case as a plenary court," said Friday the Chief Judge Sidney Thomas. "Requests for review in a full court are rejected."

Friday's decision leaves Planned Parenthood to decide whether it will follow up on its promised departure from the program, which could take place on Monday. This is the last date by which suppliers participating in Title X must provide compliance assurance to HHS with respect to the rule.

Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson criticized the court's decision in a statement Friday.

"The Trump administration is trying to force us to keep our patients' information," she wrote. "We refuse to give in to the president.The gag rule is unethical, it is dangerous and we do not submit it to our patients.We look at all our options – Trump administration imprudently enforces birth control and reproductive health care for millions of people at risk. "

The statement added that Planned Parenthood would review its options before announcing "next steps" on Monday.

Prior to the decision, Mia Heck, Director of External Affairs at the Office of the Deputy Health Secretary of HHS, told CNN that given the threat of departure from Planned Parenthood, the office would be looking for other providers if The organization did not respect the rule.

Any recipient who does not comply with the rule "must give up their grant or face a termination of their grant," Heck told CNN in a statement. "Wherever possible, HHS will consider the creation of a new management body to fulfill all the obligations that the non-compliant beneficiary would not be able or able to fulfill."

She also referred to a previous statement accusing Planned Parenthood of "choosing to give higher priority to the possibility of using abortion rather than continuing to receive federal funding to provide a wide range of methods and services. acceptable and effective family planning services to clients in need of these services. "

The battle over whether Planned Parenthood would stay or quit the program had been preparing since Wednesday, when the organization sent a letter informing it that it would pull out of the program if the court did not block the restriction of reference.

A lawyer for Planned Parenthood wrote that the direct beneficiaries of Title X "sought to preserve their ability to immediately resume services under the Title X program if the Court ordered the grant of assistance from "Emergency," but that HHS had rejected their request to stay in the program and use outside funds to provide services blocked by the rule, which is contrary to the guidelines of the ministry.

"With deep regret, however, its direct beneficiaries have no choice but to withdraw from the Title X program," wrote Alan Schoenfeld, a lawyer with the Planned Parenthood group. "In the absence of urgent legal aid, they must do so before the close of business on Monday, August 19 – in less than a week."

HHS responded Thursday by sending its own letter to the court asking it to reject Planned Parenthood's request to block the rule.

"If the seven direct beneficiaries of Planned Parenthood insist on offering abortion benchmarks, even as part of a federally funded program, and have the sense of wanting to withdraw from the program and the public that They serve, it's their choice and not a consequence of the rule, "wrote Jaynie Lilley, an HHS attorney.

Several federal judges had blocked the rule before its examination by the 9th Circuit in June and July. US District Judge Michael J. McShane described the federal restriction as "a categorical approach to public health policy".

CNN Devan Cole and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.

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