The White House is expected to announce plans to gut Title X, the nation’s family planning programme that provides birth control and other basic preventive services to 4 million patients each year.
According to reports, the administration will move to block patients from accessing birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing, and other preventive care at specialised reproductive health care providers including Planned Parenthood. News reports indicate that the proposed rule would implement a 'gag rule' that prohibits any health care provider from participating in the Title X family planning programme unless they agree not to refer patients for abortion services. It would apparently also place new, onerous restrictions on reproductive health care providers, designed to prevent them from participating in the Title X programme if they also provide referrals or abortion care outside of the programme.
Georgeanne Usova, legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, said: “With today’s expected announcement, this administration is attempting to insert its ideology into exam rooms. As with so many of the Trump White House’s policies, it is the most vulnerable communities that will be hit hardest. For close to 50 years, the Title X programme has ensured access to affordable reproductive health care to low income patients who would otherwise go without. This policy would cut off their access to critical information and care, putting the health and lives of countless people at risk in service of this administration’s extreme anti-abortion agenda.”
* American Civil LIberties Union https://www.aclu.org/
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