Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Semantics Of New Title X Funding Rule May Come Down To Difference Between Counseling And Referrals
The Trump administration has聽released聽the language of a proposed rule on federal family planning funding, and abortion rights activists are raising alarm about it. When聽health officials revealed Friday that they would be filing a change聽to which clinics would be eligible for funding, they emphasized that it was not a 鈥済ag rule.鈥 Instead, they said they were proposing to strip away a current mandate. It requires organizations that receive Title X funding to counsel women about abortion and provide them with referrals to abortion services. Under the new rules, a provider wouldn't have to talk about abortion at all. (Cha, 5/23)
In a rare public statement, Planned Parenthood's board of Republican advisers on Wednesday blasted the new Trump administration proposal to prevent some doctors from referring patients for abortions. The Trump administration this week announced changes to the Title X family planning program that would effectively eliminate funding for abortion providers including Planned Parenthood. (Diamond and Haberkorn, 5/23)
Abortion providers and their advocates in Texas are raising alarm this week about a new proposal by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would strip federal family planning funding away from clinics affiliated with abortion providers or clinics that refer patients to those providers. (Evans, 5/23)
To understand the potential impact of the Trump administration鈥檚 dramatic proposals to transform the federal family planning program, look no further than Texas. After the state made similar cuts there, the number of women served in its family planning program plummeted more than 70 percent. (Rayasam, 5/23)
In other news聽鈥
As the White House moves to block federal funding for family planning clinics unless they stop providing abortions or referring women for abortions, supporters and opponents of abortion rights are gearing up for a familiar and likely protracted fight. ...Yet abortion access is fundamentally different than it was 30 years ago, in at least one significant way: Women today have access to safe, private, do-it-yourself abortion -- if they know where to look. (Conaboy, 5/22)
