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Domestic Gag Rule Puts Donald Trump Between Women And Their Doctors

By February 22, 2019No Comments

Washington, DC — Today, ignoring the massive protests from the medical community and the American people, the Trump administration announced its final rule to erode the family planning guarantees of Title X, the nation’s program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care. Anne Shoup, communications director of Protect Our Care, issued a statement in response:

“The Republican war on women just entered a new phase with the administration’s rule that puts Donald Trump between women and their doctors. This rule, by banning providers from giving women all the facts even when they ask questions or when their lives are in danger, is cruelly designed to destroy women’s access to reproductive care. This radical rule is sadly in line with President Trump and his Republican allies’ previous attempts to dismantle women’s reproductive care and their continued sabotage of our health care in general.

THIS IS THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S LATEST EFFORT TO STRIP WOMEN OF THEIR HEALTH CARE:

In Effort To Restrict Access To Information About Reproductive Health, The Trump Administration Removed Information About Contraceptive Coverage From Some Websites. “The Office of Population Affairs, under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), removed a collection of ten webpages related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (referred to as ‘the ACA Collection’ throughout this report) from its ‘Title X Family Planning’ website. The removed pages included a main ACA page, titled ‘Affordable Care Act,’ which linked to three pages titled ‘Initiatives,’ ‘Resources,’ and ‘Contraceptive Coverage.’ These three pages linked to six additional ACA-related subpages, including pages with the titles ‘Affordable Care Act Collaborative,’ ‘Health Insurance Marketplace,’ and ‘Contraceptive Coverage.’ The URLs for all ten pages were within the ‘hhs.gov/opa/title-x-family-planning/affordable-care-act/‘ filepath and now lead to error notices. An ‘Affordable Care Act’ menu in the sidebar of the ‘Title X Family Planning’ website, which previously linked to all webpages in the ACA Collection, was also removed.” [Sunlight Foundation, 2/5/19]

In January, A Trump Administration Rule That Would Have Allowed Employers To Restrict Women’s Access To Birth Control Was Meant To Take Effect — A Federal Judge Blocked It. “A federal judge in Pennsylvania stepped in at the last moment to pause Trump administration rules that would restrict the ability of some women to get birth control at no charge because their employers object on religious or moral grounds. U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued a nationwide preliminary injunction Monday afternoon, the same day the new policy was to take effect. Her ruling came less than 24 hours after a federal district court judge in California issued a more limited stay covering 13 states and the District of Columbia. The rulings in rapid succession, both by judges appointed by President Barack Obama, are the latest legal twists in a dispute over the expansion of health-care benefits for women under the Affordable Care Act that has wound through the courts for years. The rulings do not permanently block the Trump policy but stop it from going into effect while legal challenges are pursued.” [Washington Post, 1/14/19]

For a more comprehensive look at the multiple ways the Trump administration has targeted women’s health, take a look at our fact sheet from last spring: Trump’s 11 Worst Attacks On Women’s Health.