Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • MORE +
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Government
May 18, 2018 01:00 AM

Critics call White House plan another 'domestic gag rule' on abortion

Steven Ross Johnson
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    The Trump administration wants to effectively pull Title X funding from family planning clinics that provide abortion services.

    Under a proposed rule submitted to the Office of Management and Budget on Friday for review, clinics must draw a "bright line" to separate physical and financial ties between family planning programs and any program or facility where abortion is "performed, supported, or referred as a method of family planning", according to a White House official.

    The rule appears to take direct aim at providers such as Planned Parenthood, which would be banned from providing abortion services within facilities that are supported by Title X funding.

    The White House official said the new requirements were based on, but not identical to, regulations implemented in 1988 during the Reagan administration. That regulation banned family planning clinics receiving Title X funding from even mentioning abortion, which has since been referred to as the "domestic gag" rule.

    The official said the proposed rule does not constitute a "domestic gag" rule in that it does not prohibit providers from counseling patients about abortion. But according to Dr. Jennifer Conti, clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine, such talk is a distinction without a difference in terms of the impact the rule will have on providers' ability to effectively counsel patients on all of their family planning options, which includes abortion.

    "This administration is stopping short of the Reagan-era rule by saying you can still mention abortion, but you can't mention how to obtain one or where to obtain one," Conti said. "As an abortion provider myself - that is a gag rule.

    "We can play semantics all we want and talk about what you can and can't say, but as a provider, if I cannot tell a patient how or where to obtain an abortion it's effectively the same thing as not being able to even discuss it as an option."

    That means providers such as Planned Parenthood, despite offering other healthcare services, could not receive federal funding if they provided any abortion services or referred patients to other facilities that did perform abortions even if the patient request such information.

    Federal funding is already prohibited from being used to pay for abortion. Providers like Planned Parenthood are paid for such services through private donations, or in the case of the California, are covered under that state's Medicaid program using only state funds.

    "There is already a very clear line with regards to funding," Conti said. "With that in mind, I can only look at this as a complete and direct assault on Planned Parenthood."

    The proposed rule has already received praise from conservatives who wanted to see the White House make good on campaign promises to defund Planned Parenthood. Last month, 149 Republican congressional members sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar asking for the department to quickly change make changes to the Title X program.

    "President Trump's new Protect Life Rule at long last reinstates principles first put forward under the Reagan administration, and upheld by the Supreme Court nearly three decades ago," said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) in a statement released Friday. "Abortion is not family planning—in sharp contrast, the violence of abortion wounds families."

    Sending the rule to OMB means it's possible the public will have a chance to comment on it, and comments would need to be reviewed before the rule could be finalized. Among those likely to voice opposition to the rule would be community clinics that would have to be available to provide any services no longer provided for free or on a sliding scale to patients. Abortion-rights advocates have argued taking federal funding away from providers such as Planned Parenthood would leave many low-income women in rural parts of country with limited access to family planning and reproductive health services.

    Community health clinics are often touted by anti-abortion supporters as having the capacity to accommodate the health needs of those patients that currently use providers such as Planed Parenthood.

    "By putting these dollars in the federal community health centers, which provide the same kinds of services — for every Planned Parenthood, there are 20 federal community health centers," said House Speaker Paul Ryan during a CNN town hall held in January 2017. "They're vastly bigger in network, there are so many more of them, and they provide these kinds of services without all of the controversy surrounding this [abortion] issue."

    But a 2017 report by the Guttmacher Institute found only 60% of the more than 10,000 federally-qualified health center sites across the country reported offering contraceptive care to at least 10 women a year in 2015, and that no FQHC sites offered such services in 13% of the 415 counties where a Planned Parenthood facility was located.

    "A large amount of counties in the US are serviced primarily through Planned Parenthood in terms of contraceptive care, STD screening, women's care, cancer screenings," Conti said. "In these counties where a lot of women get their care through Planned Parenthood, providers in the community have been very clear that if Planned Parenthood were to go away or not be able to provide such services there would certainly be a gap that they would not be able to fill."

    The proposed rule change has also drawn instant criticism from a number of Democratic lawmakers, who accused the White House of engaging in government overreach for the sake of scoring political points.

    "This policy has nothing to do with the health of America's families and everything to do with this White House's extremist policies that continue to put American lives at risk," said Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) in a statement. "It's past time for the government to get out of the doctor's office."

    An edited version of this story can also be found in Modern Healthcare's May 21 print edition.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Record 16.3M people enroll in ACA plans
    Record 16.3M people enroll in ACA plans
    367749098.jpg
    US health officials propose annual COVID-19 vaccination for most Americans
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare Alert: Sign up for this breaking news email to be kept in the loop as urgent healthcare business news unfolds.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top 25 Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • MORE +
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing