“As the only federal program exclusively dedicated to providing low-income patients with access to family planning and preventive health services and information, [Title X] plays a vital role in the landscape of women’s health care,” Dr. Hollier said during a Feb. 22 press conference. “By weakening the requirements for the scope of contraceptive care provided by grant recipients and restricting the types of care recipients can discuss with patients, the final rule fundamentally harms the scope and purpose of this historic program.”
The American Medical Association also expressed disappointment, referring to the final requirement as a “gag rule” between physicians and patients.
Dr. Barbara L. McAneny
“This rule interferes with and imposes restrictions on the patient-physician relationship,” Barbara L. McAneny, MD, AMA President said in a statement. “For all intents and purposes, it imposes a gag rule on what information physicians can provide to their patients. The patient-physician relationship relies on trust, open conversation and informed decision making and the government should not be telling physicians what they can and cannot say to their patients.”
Under the rule, proposed last year, physicians are prohibited from discussing abortion options with pregnant women, from sharing abortion information, and from making abortion referrals if the clinic receives Title X funds. The regulation permits, but no longer requires, nondirective pregnancy counseling, including nondirective counseling on abortion. In its statement, HHS officials said the new rule ensures “conscience protections” for Title X health providers by eliminating the requirement for providers to counsel on and refer for abortion.
Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group, praised the final rule as a measure that disentangles taxpayers from the “big abortion industry led by Planned Parenthood.”
“The Protect Life Rule does not cut family planning funding by a single dime, and instead directs tax dollars to entities that provide health care to women but do not perform abortions,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement. “The Title X program was not intended to be a slush fund for abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood, which violently ends the lives of more than 332,000 unborn babies a year and receives almost $60 million a year in Title X taxpayer dollars.”
Emily Stewart, vice president of public policy for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America indicated that the group plans to fight the rule in court.
“Since day one, the Trump-Pence administration has aggressively targeted the health, rights, and bodily autonomy of people of color, people with low incomes, and women,” she said in a statement. “We’re going to fight this rule through every possible avenue.”
The final rule has been submitted to the Federal Register for publication.