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The Trump administration has released its final version of a regulation that radically changes Title X, the federal program that provides birth control and other reproductive health services to millions of low-income Americans.
Under the new rule, released Friday by the Federal Bureau of Population Affairs of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Services, any organization that provides or recommends abortion patients is not eligible for Title X funding. cover STD prevention, cancer screening and contraception. Federal funding for abortion is already illegal in most cases.
The rule, proposed for the first time last year, was a great success with President Trump's social-conservative platform. It should be officially published at the Federal register soon and come into force 60 days later.
Abortion rights activists have long called on lawmakers to "fund the family planner". They argue that no organization related to abortion should receive federal funds.
"Abortion is not part of family planning," said Tom McClusky, vice president of government affairs at the March for Life Anti-Abortion, in a recent interview with NPR. "These services should be separate and even have separate facilities."
Doreen Denny, senior director of government relations at Concerned Women for America, said her group supports a "clear dividing line between any type of provider likely to engage in abortion services" and funding. Federal Title X.
Proponents of abortion rights have criticized the settlement as a "gag rule" that will prevent doctors from speaking openly to pregnant women about options, including abortion.
Dr. Leana Wen, President of Planned Parenthood, recently told NPR that not disclosing information about an abortion to Title X patients would violate medical ethics. "As a doctor, this compromises the oath I have taken to serve my patients and help them make the best decision for their own health," said Wen. "My patients are waiting for me to speak to them honestly, to answer their questions and to help them when needed." It is unreasonable and unethical for politicians to "get out of bed." to prevent doctors like me from speaking honestly to our patients. "
Wen and other reproductive rights advocates said the new regulations would force groups like Planned Parenthood to opt out of Title X funding, which could reduce the number of sites where low-income women and others beneficiaries may receive reproductive health care. Family planning clinics serve 41% of Title X beneficiaries across the country and warned that dramatic changes to the program could compromise access to care for the 4 million low-income people served by the program.
In addition to blocking grants to organizations offering abortions or referrals, some religious groups hope that the new regulations will allow organizations such as crisis centers, which advise women against abortion, to receive these funds.
"There are a number of options that can carry the banner," said McClusky, as part of the March for Life. "And family planning is not the only game in town."
Some of these organizations focus on abstinence outside marriage or advocate fertility awareness methods, which are based on understanding the woman's cycle and restricting sexual activity at certain times of her fertility. .
Mario Dickerson, executive director of the Catholic Medical Association, said he hoped the program would move in that direction.
"We could provide abstinence programs, we could provide natural family planning … without having to provide these other services," said Dickerson.
This idea worries Julie Rabinovitz, president of Essential Access Health, which administers Title X grants in California. She stated that the Trump administration was carrying out "some of the most extreme policy changes" in the history of the Title X program. She said that diverting federal funds to groups that do not offer Not a full range of contraceptive options could reduce the number of institutions where low-income women can be prescribed contraceptive pills or IUDs.
"Birth control is a time-dependent service, and it's an essential health care service," Rabinovitz said. "And we want to make sure that women are able to get the kind of birth control they need and that they want very quickly."
Reproductive rights groups are supposed to fight regulation in the courts.
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