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Planned Parenthood to withdraw from Title X Funding Program Monday in response to new Trump Administration rule

According to the Wall Street Jounral, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America stated Monday that it would be withdrawing from the federal Title X family-planning program, rather than comply with a new Trump Administration rule that sets restrictions on what health providers can say about abortion. The organization’s decision to forgo the federal funding will affect around $60 million worth of services like birth control, pregnancy tests, contraception, and screening for sexually transmitted diseases for around 1.5 million low income women who rely on Planned Parenthood for family planning. ~

The Trump administration’s rule states that clinics accepting Title X funds may talk to their patients about abortions, but must not refer a woman to getting an abortion or refer them to location’s in which they can obtain one. Individuals, clinics, and organizations around the U.S. were outraged by the rule, stating that “the restriction would force them to withhold medical information from patients, interferes with the doctor-patient relationship, and could deny pregnant women the range of options available to them,” (The New York Times, 2019). ~

Planned Parenthood’s decision seems to be the latest spur in the highly controversial abortion debate. Alexis McGill Johnson, the acting president of Planned Parenthood, said Monday in a press conference that, “When you have an unethical rule that will limit what providers can tell our patients, it becomes really important that we not agree to be in the program.” According to The New York Times, the Department of Health and Human Services responded to Planned Parenthood’s actions without specifically naming the organization, stating that groups who do not comply with the Trump Administration’s rule “are now blaming the government for their own actions. They are abandoning their obligations to serve their patients under the program.” Although it remains unclear on exactly the long term effects of Planned Parenthood’s decision will be, the decision does raise questions on the future of the organization and its 1.5 million patients who used services under Title X. ~

This is Fact Based America – WE have the FACTS. YOU have the OPINIONS. What do you think about Planned Parenthood’s decision? What do you think about the Trump Administration’s new rule?

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