Planned Parenthood and other medical groups have sued the Trump administration over rules that would keep the organization from talking about abortion with patients or otherwise forgo federal family planning funds.
Dr. Leana Wen, Planned Parenthood’s president, in a statement called the rule “unethical, illegal, and dangerous.”
“Planned Parenthood will never force our doctors and nurses to withhold medical information from our patients, and we will fight the Trump administration in the courts to protect everyone’s fundamental right to healthcare,” she continued.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Eugene, Ore., aims to undo rules by the Trump administration that apply to a $286 million-a-year grant, known as Title X, that pays for birth control, testing of sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screenings for 4 million low-income people. Planned Parenthood receives roughly $50 million to $60 million in these grants each year.
The Oregon Medical Association and the American Medical Association both joined Planned Parenthood in suing. Twenty states and the District of Columbia also have filed suit in Oregon, and California filed a similar suit in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
The Trump administration’s change to the rule requires the “physical and financial” separation of family planning services and abortion. It would also block providers from referring for abortions for the purpose of family planning or promoting the practice if they are receiving Title X grants. Critics have often referred to it as a “gag rule.”
“The new rule imposes a government gag rule on what information physicians can provide to their patients,” Dr. Barbara McAneny, AMA president, said in a statement. “The administration wants to allow Title X clinics not to provide full information to patients about all of their health care options and block physicians from providing appropriate referrals for care.”
The policy attempts to distribute the federal dollars to community health centers instead. Clinics will either have to comply with the rules or forgo federal funding.
Federal funds are not permitted to pay for abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, or if a woman’s pregnancy threatens her life. Abortion foes, however, have long fought for the rules the Trump administration set because they say allocating federal funds toward clinics such as Planned Parenthood frees up additional funds for the clinics to provide abortions.
The Trump administration rule is similar to a 1988 policy instituted by former President Ronald Reagan, which required family planning services to have a “physical separation” and “separate personnel” from abortion providers.
Planned Parenthood and other groups challenged the Reagan-era rule in court. The Supreme Court allowed the policy to move forward, but it was never carried out completely. Then-President Bill Clinton rolled back the rules in 1994.
