‘More Than a Gag Rule’
Late last month, the Trump administration proposed a new rule that could prohibit doctors who receive a type of federal funding called Title X from explicitly referring their patients to abortion providers. Under the new rule, only a pregnant woman who has already decided she wants an abortion—rather than one who is simply weighing her options—could be given a list of medical providers, and not all of the providers can be abortion providers. The rule might still be changed before it goes into effect.
The move is the latest in a series of conservative regulatory changes the Trump administration has made to women’s health. Last year, President Trump restored the global gag rule on abortion and allowed states to withhold family-planning funds to abortion providers. More recently, changes have been made to other programs to emphasize sexual abstinence.
Eight doctors’ groups the Title X change as “dangerously intrud[ing]” on the patient-provider relationship. What’s more, it might disproportionately affect poor and uninsured women, who visit Title X of Title X patients have income below the federal poverty line.
