The Trump administration posted a new federal rule Friday that prohibits all health clinics receiving Title X family-planning funds from referring patients for abortions, and from “performing, promoting, referring for, or supporting abortion as a method of family planning.” The rules also requires all Title X health clinics to be physically and financially separate from those that provide abortion, directly impacting organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide contraceptives and STD tests alongside abortion services. The rule, which is set to take effect 60 days after being submitted to the federal register, instantly drew outcry from civil rights groups like the ACLU and reproductive rights groups like the Guttmacher Institute. “Title Xis our nation’s gold-standard family planning program that serves low-income patients for free,” Ruth Harlow, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project Senior Staff Attorney, said in a statement. “Nobody should be denied access to reproductive health care or receive inadequate care because of their lack of income.”
— Emily Shugerman
