The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday turned down Planned Parenthood’s request that it reverse its July decision allowing the Trump regime’s implementation of a gag rule against making abortion referrals to its healthcare patients until lawsuits against the rule work their way through the courts. Officials at Planned Parenthood had said beforehand that if the court stuck with its previous decision, they would end the organization’s participation in the Title X Family Planning Program.
By the time the gag rule goes into effect on Monday, a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman said, a decision will have been made on whether the organization will opt out of accepting Title X grant money to reimburse it for the many reproductive-related services it provides to women without the financial means to pay for these themselves. Planned Parenthood covers about 40% of the nation’s Title X clients.
In addition to the 400 or so Planned Parenthood affiliates, several thousand smaller clinic networks and some states that accept Title X money are also at risk. A few blue states have said they will opt out of the program as long as the gag rule is in place. But most states have not, and many have budget constraints as well as right-wing-dominated legislatures that make it unlikely state money will be used to substitute for Title X funds in most of the nation.
After the gag rule was announced, a federal district court judge in April temporarily enjoined the government from imposing it. In June, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court lifted the injunction, and in July an 11-judge panel agreed, reinforcing that decision with its denial of Planned Parenthood’s request Friday. The court’s decision reflects the view that the federal government will succeed in its legal arguments supporting the gag rule. Arguments in that case are scheduled to be heard late next month.
The half-century-old Title X is the only federal grant program focused entirely on providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and associated preventive health services. Alice Miranda Ollstein reports:
“Trump’s administration is trying to force us to keep information from our patients," said Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood's acting president. "The gag rule is unethical, dangerous, and we will not subject our patients to it. We are considering all of our options.”
The gag rule is one element in a 46-year-old-long war by forced-birthers to control women’s sexuality by undermining access to legal abortion. And like other elements, it will exact its greatest damage on women of color and low-income women, not just making it harder for them to terminate their pregnancies but making it harder for them not to get pregnant in the first place by limiting their access to affordable contraceptives that Planned Parenthood and other clinics have provided with Title X grants. Some 4 million women rely on Title X-funded services annually.
Because of the Hyde Amendment, first passed in 1977 and renewed annually every year since, no federal funds can be used to pay for abortions except in cases of rape or incest, or when the woman’s life is at risk from continued pregnancy. Planned Parenthood does not spend federal grant money for abortions, however, many of its affiliated clinics either perform abortions themselves or refer patients to abortion providers. Forced-birthers object, saying that Planned Parenthood’s alleged “mingling” of monies for other reproductive-related services with money for abortions, including for abortion referrals, violates the spirit of Hyde. One more bucket that is part of a deluge of attacks designed to return us to the reproductive dark ages.
So what will this mean in practice? If it refuses to accept the extortionate imposition of the gag rule that would require lying by omission to their clients, Planned Parenthood will need to raise additional funds to cover the non-abortion services it provides now, much of it with funding from Title X. In 2017-2018, those included:
- 4,721,985 STI tests and treatment
- 741,352 HIV tests
- 240,489 STIs diagnosed
- 2,620,867 Birth control information and services
- 1,870,664 Reversible contraception clients
- 631,510 Emergency contraception kits
- 570,444 Breast exams and pap tests
- 70,193 women whose cancer was detected early or who had abnormalities identified
- 1.2 million people reached through education and outreach