The Planned Parenthood Action Fund applauds Dayton for standing up for 53,000 Minnesota Planned Parenthood patients.
The Title X gag rule is a dangerous policy that would threaten health care for 53,000 Minnesota patients. Governor Dayton said in his letter to the Trump administration that the gag rule is a “violation of the medical ethics that guide health care providers in our country” and that “these services are a fundamental part of our state’s public health infrastructure.”
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund president Sarah Stoesz issued the following statement in response to Governor Dayton’s opposition to the Trump-Pence administration’s domestic gag rule:
“We’re grateful to Governor Dayton for, once again, standing with Minnesota women to protect reproductive health care services in our state. The Trump-Pence administration is taking direct aim at birth control and other life-saving health care for tens of thousands of Minnesotans in every corner of our state. Governor Dayton is part of a strong, vocal movement fighting for these essential health care services nationwide.”
BACKGROUND
In May, the Trump-Pence administration introduced a proposed gag rule on Title X — the decades-old national program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care that four million people rely on each year. The gag rule would make it illegal for doctors and nurses in the Title X program across the country to tell their patients how and where they can access safe, legal abortion. It would also impose new restrictions designed to make it impossible for patients to get birth control or preventive care from reproductive health care providers like Planned Parenthood. Additionally, it would drastically undercut access to birth control across the country, removing the requirement that Title X providers offer their patients a full range of FDA-approved birth control, or even that they offer birth control that is “medically approved.” It also opens the door to allowing deceptive anti-abortion counseling centers to take the place of comprehensive women’s health care providers in the program.
At Planned Parenthood’s health centers in Minnesota last year, Title X funding supported services for 53,000 patients for services including birth control, STD testing and treatment, clinical breast exams and cervical cancer screenings.
The gag rule has been met with widespread opposition from the health care community. Major medical associations, like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, and others oppose this rule. The American Medical Association stated that they are “particularly alarmed” by Trump’s domestic gag rule and the American Nurses Association declared that it “violates basic ethics of the [nursing] profession.” The National Association of Community Health Centers opposes the gag rule, as do 110 public health organizations, and public health experts such as former U.S. surgeon general Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, and many others.
National opinion polls show that 73 percent of Americans oppose actions, like the domestic gag rule, that block access to care for millions of women and violate the trust they have in their doctors. A new Kaiser poll released this week shows that 70 percent of women aged 18-44 and 60 percent of Republican women oppose the Trump gag rule. More than 200 members of Congress (Senate letter and House letter) and over 110 public health organizations have come out in opposition to a gag policy, as well as 80 mayors and 274 state legislators.
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Founded in 1992, the Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization. As the advocacy and electoral arm of PPMNS, we mobilize supporters of all parties to defend and increase access to family planning services and fact based, medically accurate sexuality education. We work to inspire and engage citizens to take up the cause of reproductive health and rights through education, electoral activity, grassroots organizing and legislative advocacy.
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