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The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) routinely speaks to the importance of routine, preventive care which allows for the timely diagnosis and treatment of illnesses and helps ensure long, healthy lives. Policies that restrict those components of care are likely to do the opposite.Hal Lawrence, executive vice president and CEO of ACOG, said in a statement that the reported changes to Title X funding could leave people with fewer options, which could delay care or prevent people from getting care in the first place.“Title X is the only federal grant program exclusively dedicated to providing low-income patients with access to effective family planning and related preventive health,” Lawrence said. “So, for the many health centers and patients that rely on this program for their contraceptive care, these changes will leave them with no alternatives. Restricting access to this funding is likely to shutter health centers or dramatically narrow the scope of care health centers are able to provide. This endangers women’s health, leaving them with fewer options for safe, timely, and comprehensive preventive care, and is certain to delay provision of care or altogether deter women from seeking care at all.”The proposed rule is also expected to eliminate the requirement that Title X providers tell pregnant patients about all of their options, which include abortion, says Kashif Syed, senior policy analyst for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Update 5/22/18: The White House released the proposed changes to Title X on Tuesday evening, shortly before President Trump spoke at a fundraising gala for anti-choice group Susan B. Anthony List, where he encouraged supporters to vote for Republicans in the midterms. As expected, the rule would bar clinics that provide abortions or abortion referrals from applying for Title X funding, but would not ban counseling on abortion. It also states that there would need to be a physical separation between services funded by Title X and services related to abortion using nonfederal funds. Additionally, the rule removes a requirement that grant recipients offer "medically approved" family planning services, and those that do no longer need to provide all 18 types of FDA-approved birth control. These changes mean crisis pregnancy centers and providers that only promote abstinence could be eligible for grants for the first time since Title X's inception in 1970. The proposed rule has not yet been published in the Federal Register; when it is, there will be a public comment period, likely for 60 days, before the administration reviews comments and decides how to proceed.Hear more on the Vice Guide to Right Now podcast:Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of Tonic delivered to your inbox.This proposed rule to eliminate Title X funding to health clinics who provide, or even mention, abortion as a pregnancy option, will hurt patients who are already marginalized in our healthcare system most, namely women of color and low-income women. It is not an exaggeration to say that this policy puts women's lives at risk by limiting their access to comprehensive and medically accurate reproductive health information. Silencing providers who deliver these vital services in Title X-funded health clinics creates a system where only those with the most economic means have access to medically accurate health information. Real women’s lives are being as used political tools by the Trump-Pence administration to win points with their base; it’s cruel and short-sighted.