Abortion Referrals Banned at US-Funded Clinics

28.02.2019

The Trump administration has announced that taxpayer-funded family planning clinics which primarily serve low-income Americans will no longer be able to refer patients for abortions. The new regulation was announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of Title X, a government family planning programme that serves about 4 million people.

The programme currently subsidises health centres such as those run by Planned Parenthood, which provide contraception, health screenings and abortions. Planned Parenthood receives up to $60 million a year in federal funds through the programme.

To continue receiving taxpayer subsidies under the programme, health clinics will have to comply with the new rule. Its key elements include “prohibiting referral for abortion as a method of family planning,” the health department said in a statement, adding that the rule “eliminates the requirement that Title X providers offer abortion counselling and referral.”

The rule would also require “clear financial and physical separation between Title X funded projects and programs or facilities where abortion is a method of family planning,” the statement said. The law already bans recipients of Title X funds from using those funds to perform abortions.

Planned Parenthood’s president, Leana Wen, claimed the new rule is “unconscionable and unethical.” Officials from the states of New York and California said they would challenge the new rule in court.

Reuters. February 22.