WASHINGTON – The Trump administration said it would ban taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from sending women back for abortion, a move that may be challenged in court by abortion rights advocates.
The policy published Friday by the Department of Health and Social Services pleased the religious conservatives, an essential element of the political base of President Donald Trump.
The plan would also prohibit family planning clinics from being housed in the same location as abortion providers.
Planned Parenthood said that the administration seemed to target them. The final settlement was released Friday on an HHS website. This is not official until it is listed in the Federal Register and the department has stated that there may be "minor editorial changes".
RELATED: Demonstrations for and against abortion in America
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Demonstrations for and against abortion in America
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An anti-abortion protester with tape on the mouth manifests before the US Supreme Court before the court gives a victory to abortion rights defenders, canceling a Texas law imposing strict regulations on doctors and abortion facilities in Washington on June 27, 2016.
(REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque)
Protesters hold placards in the United States Supreme Court, which is due to make its first major abortion decision since 2007 against a backdrop of continuing US divisions on the issue and a decline since then. several decades of the number of women terminating a pregnancy in Washington, United States, June 27, 2016.
(REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque)
Protesters hold placards in the United States Supreme Court, which is due to make its first major abortion decision since 2007 against a backdrop of continuing US divisions on the issue and a decline since then. several decades of the number of women terminating a pregnancy in Washington, United States, June 27, 2016.
(REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque)
Protesters demonstrated before the US Supreme Court in the morning that the court had started a major abortion case by asking whether a Texas law imposing strict regulations on doctors and abortion clinics violated a woman's constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy. Washington, March 2nd, 2016.
(REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque)
On January 15, 2017, anti-Trump protesters protest against the rally for the right to abortion in Chicago, Illinois.
(REUTERS / Kamil Krzaczynski)
Pro-choice activists celebrate the US Supreme Court marches on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-to-3 ruling, the US Supreme Court overturned one of the country's toughest abortion restrictions: a Texas law that, according to women's groups, would have forced more than three quarters of state clinics to close.
(Photo by Pete Marovich / Getty Images)
Pro-life activists gather at the Supreme Court for the March for Life National Rally in Washington, DC, United States, on January 27, 2017.
(REUTERS / Aaron P. Bernstein)
Pro-life activists gather for the March for Life national rally in Washington on January 27, 2017.
(REUTERS / Aaron P. Bernstein)
On February 11, 2017, pro-Choice supporters of Planned Parenthood gather in front of a family planning clinic in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
(REUTERS / Rebecca Cook)
A man holds a rosary in front of protesters in competition displaying pro-life and pro-choice signs as the annual March for Life ends at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on January 27, 2017.
(REUTERS / James Lawler Duggan)
Siberian Husky Tasha carries a sign "Huskies for Choice" while she is being held by her owner, Michelle Kinsey Bruns, in the Supreme Court at the March for Life Rally in Washington on January 22, 2016. This rally marks the 43rd anniversary of the United States Supreme Court Decision on Abortion in 1973 in the case of Roe v. Wade.
(REUTERS / Gary Cameron)
A man gets up during a family planning vigil outside family planning – Margaret Sanger Health Center in Manhattan, New York, USA, February 11, 2017.
(REUTERS / Andrew Kelly)
Karen Lieber is joining anti-abortion activists to demonstrate in front of the Planned Parenthood, Far Northeast Surgical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on February 11, 2017.
(REUTERS / Charles Mostoller)
Minnesota's Marian Rumley, Taylor Miller and Sophie Caticchio, supporters of anti-abortion, listen to speeches at the March for Life Rally in Washington on January 22, 2016. This rally marks the 43rd anniversary of the decision of the United States Supreme Court on Abortion, 1973, in the Roe v. United States case. Wade.
(REUTERS / Gary Cameron)
The Franciscan Friars Minor met between the United States Supreme Court and the Capitol on the occasion of the 44th Annual March for Life on January 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Abortion rights advocates traveled to the US capital on Friday for an annual march that is expected to attract the largest number of spectators in years. The White House put the cause forward and gave its weight to the campaign.
(ZACH GIBSON / AFP / Getty Images)
Pro-choice and pro-life activists demonstrate in the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-to-3 ruling, the US Supreme Court overturned one of the country's toughest abortion restrictions: a Texas law that, according to women's groups, would have forced more than three quarters of state clinics to close.
(Photo by Pete Marovich / Getty Images)
Pro-life activists pray on the US Supreme Court marches on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-to-3 ruling, the US Supreme Court overturned one of the country's toughest abortion restrictions: a Texas law that, according to women's groups, would have forced more than three quarters of state clinics to close.
(Photo by Pete Marovich / Getty Images)
Pro-choice protesters from the US Supreme Court applaud on hearing that the court overturned the Texas Abortion Act on Monday, June 27, 2016.
(Photo By Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call)
View of protesters in front of the United Nations protesting against a proposal to ban abortion in Poland, New York, New York, April 17, 2016.
(Photo by Chuck Fishman / Getty Images)
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Known as Title X, the family planning program serves about 4 million women a year, costing taxpayers about $ 260 million.
New York Attorney General Tish James called the new rules "dangerous and useless" and said that the state would fight against this measure.
"The Trump administration has just enacted unfounded regulations that impose an anti-choice political agenda on families who rely on Title X for access to essential family planning and health services," he said. James on Twitter. "These new rules are dangerous and useless, New York will not remain inactive, because this administration is endangering New Yorkers and millions of Americans and we will take legal action."
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