We previously mentioned the Administration’s proposal to significantly alter the Title X family planning program. The policy change is often considered a “gag rule” because it precludes providers from giving patients referrals for abortion services if they receive family planning funds. The proposed rule would seriously undermine the Title X program by interfering with the doctor-patient relationship, denying comprehensive medical information to patients, violating patient confidentiality and imposing costly and unnecessary burdens on existing high-quality family planning clinics. It also deletes the requirement that contraception provided be medically approved, and no longer directs providers to ensure women have access to the full range of birth control. The implications are far-reaching:

• Planned Parenthood and their patients: The rule would bar women using Title X services from receiving care at Planned Parenthood. When family planning cuts in Wisconsin resulted in the closure of five Planned Parenthood clinics, women lost access to care when they were referred to clinics that were farther away, with waiting lists, and did not provide the full range of family planning methods; this would happen on a much larger scale under the gag rule. Planned Parenthood clinics care for over 40% of the 3.8 million patients served through Title X.
• Title X providers: The rule’s counseling and referral restrictions could put providers at risk of medical liability because they would be required to withhold information about services and referrals to qualified providers.
• Community health centers (CHCs): Without Planned Parenthood, many patients needing contraceptive services will flock to CHCs. However, many CHCs have limited capacity and may not be able to take on more patients seeking family planning services. In addition, there may not be a surge in CHC participation in Title X due to ethical and legal risks under the proposed rules. And yet studies of family planning care in CHCs have found that Title X participation is the most important single factor associated with comprehensive family planning care. Only a quarter of CHCs participate in Title X; only three Washington State CHCs currently receive Title X funding.
• LGBTQ community: Adolescents who identify as bisexual or lesbian are more likely to have an unintended pregnancy or an abortion than their heterosexual counterparts. They need honest, reliable counseling to make informed decisions, especially if they were not provided with comprehensive sexual education. The target demographic for Title X care is also disproportionately LGBTQ due to systemic inequality and deeply rooted hierarchies of oppression causing many members of the LGBTQ community to be more likely to face homelessness and poverty than their heterosexual counterparts. The gag rule is also likely to add yet another barrier for the trans community’s access to comprehensive care.

Over half of the public (57 percent) opposes this proposed rule, according to Kaiser Family Foundation’s June Health Tracking Poll. And most say it is important for the federal government to fund reproductive health services for low-income women (see chart below).