A federal appeals court has rejected an effort by Planned Parenthood to avoid new abortion rules that would ban referrals by federally funded family planning clinics.
The decision in the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals will allow lawsuits filed by various pro-abortion groups to go forward while the rule is implemented.
The Department of Health and Human Services set a deadline of midnight Monday for providers across the country to eithercomply with the policy or be kicked out of the federal Title X family planning program and potentially forfeit millions of dollars in federal grants.Several states and medical groups that serve nearly half of the approximately 4 million low-income women that Title X covers for free and subsidized birth control, STD screenings and other health services have said they won’t participate under the new restrictions.
Note that the pro-abortion lobby is using the health of poor women as a cudgel against the Trump administration. They can provide all those other services, but are refusing because they can’t advise clients to get an abortion.
Planned Parenthood earlier this week had petitioned the court to freeze the rule, saying its hundreds of clinics will be forced to leave the program rather than follow what it calls a “gag rule” on its providers.
The women’s health network said it will decide on Monday how to proceed.
“Trump’s administration is trying to force us to keep information from our patients,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood’s acting president. “The gag rule is unethical, dangerous, and we will not subject our patients to it. We are considering all of our options.”
It doesn’t matter if you’re pro- or anti-abortion, this is a despicable tactic by Planned Parenthood. They will refuse to provide needed services to poor women in order to pressure the Trump administration to rescind the “gag rule.”
Lower courts blocked major provisions of the new rule in Aprilafter nearly two dozen states and providers including the American Medical Association and Planned Parenthood sued. But a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit lifted those injunctions on June 20, finding that the administration will likely prevail in the legal battle because the Supreme Court upheld similar Reagan-era rules almost 30 years ago. An 11-judge panel upheld that decision in July, and the full 9th Circuit left that decision in place with Friday night’s ruling.
The court is set to hear arguments on the merits of the case in late September, but a wave of organizations from Colorado to New York to Maine have already begun exiting the Title X program, forfeiting their federal funding and losing access to discounted drugs.
And whose fault is that? There is nothing in the new rules that prevents these groups from offering free mammograms, free birth control, or free exams. The pro-abortion groups are throwing a tantrum that rivals any outburst made by a two-year-old. They don’t care about their clients, they want to be able to tell women they should get an abortion — despite a long-standing federal policy that prevents any federal money from being used for abortions.
Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and other groups have been waiting for 40 years to ditch the Hyde Amendment. And they’re using the lives and health of poor, vulnerable women as political pawns in their game.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member