Aug. 19 (UPI) — Months after the Trump Administration imposed a new rule to cut funding to organizations that provide or refer for abortions, Planned Parenthood on Monday will exit a federal program it’s been a part of for decades it says will punish low-income Americans.
Planned Parenthood said it’s being forced to withdraw from Title X Monday, due to the rule, unless a federal court steps in.
Alex McGill Johnson, acting president of the organization, appealed last week to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene, saying Planned Parenthood entities that are Title X grantees will be forced out of the program Monday unless it stops the administration’s so-called “gag rule.”
“This gag rule will destroy the Title X program — putting birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings and STI testing and treatment at risk for millions of people struggling to make ends meet,” Johnson wrote in a letter to the court.
The Department of Health and Human Services issued the new rules in February prohibiting referral for abortion as a method of family planning for Title X grantees, and requiring clear financial and physical separation between Title X-funded projects and programs that offer abortion referrals.
So far, challenges in federal court have failed. The Ninth Circuit Court ruled last month to allow the new rules to take effect while legal challenges play out.
Planned Parenthood, which says it serves millions of Title X patients at its health centers, said the rule is an overt effort to push it and other similar reproductive health providers out of the program.
HHS has required all grantees to submit a plan by Monday detailing how they will comply with the new rules. Without the government funding, Planned Parenthood says it cannot remain in a program in which it’s participated for decades.
“The Trump administration is targeting providers like Planned Parenthood in an attempt to end access to birth control and other reproductive healthcare,” Johnson added. “They are forcing qualified, expert healthcare providers out of our nation’s decades-old program for affordable birth control.”
Johnson said the impact of the group’s departure will differ from state to state — but in some cases, contraception and other services may become more expensive, or wait times may increase.
“It means that some people will not be able to afford the care; it means that some people will have to make a decision as to whether or not they have the time to wait in line. It certainly means that there will be, potentially a delay in care — or they will decide to forgo care altogether,” she wrote.
An HHS representative told NPR Planned Parenthood prioritizes abortion referral over remaining in the program.
“To the extent that Planned Parenthood claims that it must make burdensome changes to comply with the Final Rule, it is actually choosing to place a higher priority on the ability to refer for abortion instead of continuing to receive federal funds to provide a broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and services to clients in need of these services,” the official said.
Johnson said Planned Parenthood will seek other sources, such as donations, to recoup funding previously provided by Title X — but added it’s “unrealistic to think grants or private donations” can accurately replace the federal aid.
“We refuse to let the Trump administration bully us into withholding abortion information from our patients,” she said. “The gag rule is unethical and dangerous and we will not subject our patients to it.”
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