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The New
York Times (2/22, Belluck) reported that the Trump Administration
unveiled a rule “barring organizations that provide abortion referrals from
receiving federal family planning money, a step that could cut millions of
dollars in funding to Planned Parenthood.” The article notes that, “many
women’s organizations said the new requirements will interfere with health
providers’ responsibilities to fully counsel patients about reproductive health.”
The regulation, “which has been expected for months, is almost certain to be
challenged in court. It also requires organizations that receive funding
under the program, called Title X, to have ‘physical and financial
separation’ between abortion-related services and programs that involve birth
control or other family planning services.”
The Washington
Post (2/22, Cha) reported that “Health and Human Services Department
officials have said [these changes] were necessary to ensure transparency and
the legal and ethical use of taxpayer funds.” But critics, among them “15
governors and the American Medical Association, decried the change as a ‘gag
rule’ that would undermine the physician-patient relationship.” In addition,
some critics characterized “it as an indirect way to defund Planned
Parenthood, which has long been...the nation’s largest provider of
reproductive care services.”
The
Hill (2/22, Hellmann) quoted American Medical Association President
Barbara L. McAneny, M.D., as saying, “Millions of women depend on the Title X
program for access to much-needed health care including cancer screenings,
birth control, STI testing and treatment, and other exams. ... This is the
wrong prescription and threatens to compound a health equity deficit in this
nation.”
To
read the AMA’s full statement on Title X gag rule and funding restrictions, click
here. For more AMA coverage on the new federal regulations, click
here. |