Trump-Pence Administration Moves to Block Access to Critical Health Care Services
By Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund, Inc. | Feb. 22, 2019, 7:22 p.m.
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“I have never seen a policy so egregious and insidious. Low-income patients should not be denied the care they need to be healthy and plan their pregnancies. And politicians should not be telling people where they can and cannot get their health care.”
Sarah Stoesz, President, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund
The Trump-Pence administration has released the gag rule on Title X funding, the nation’s family planning program that helps cover the cost of contraception and preventive care for people with low incomes. This gag rule bans any health care provider that refers patients for safe, legal abortion from receiving Title X funds, thereby excluding Planned Parenthood patients from this critical source of family planning funding.
By issuing this dangerous rule, President Trump will block millions of Americans from the affordable health care they seek at Planned Parenthood clinics. This includes 53,000 Minnesotans who rely on Title X funding to receive care at Planned Parenthood and other clinics in all corners of the state for services like birth control, STD testing and treatment, and life-saving cancer screenings.
Statement from Sarah Stoesz, President of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund:
“I have never seen a policy so egregious and insidious. Low-income women should not be denied the care they need to be healthy and plan their pregnancies. And politicians should not be telling people where they can and cannot get their health care.”
“Planned Parenthood is a crucial part of our public health system and this rule tries to cut off low-income women from receiving high-quality, lifesaving health care services at our clinics across the state and the country. We need the American public to appreciate how disturbing this gag rule is and the far-reaching impact on the people of our state and our nation.”
“It’s baffling that our President and Vice President want to do something that leads to more unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and cancer. We will do everything in our power to fight this rule for one simple reason: it is a direct attack on the health of our state and our country.”
“Sadly, today’s announcement is not a surprise since the Trump-Pence administration appointed officials to key health care positions who don’t believe in family planning, who think birth control is bad and who oppose medically accurate sex education–even though all available economic and medical research shows the value of these services to families and the nation.”
Title X Background
Title X (ten), passed by Congress in 1970, is the only federal grant program dedicated to funding comprehensive family planning services for Americans with low incomes. Title X funds serve people who can’t afford usual doctor’s appointments. For many people these health centers are their only source of health care.
Title X provides a range of essential preventive health services including contraception, STD testing and treatment, HIV testing, and breast and cervical cancer screenings. Since the beginning of Title X, health centers that provide abortions, like Planned Parenthood, were able to get funding but were prohibited from using those funds to subsidize or pay for abortions. No Title X funds have every been used for abortion services.
In Minnesota, Planned Parenthood uses Title X funds to care for patients at our clinics in Alexandria, Apple Valley, Bemidji, Brooklyn Park, Duluth, Eden Prairie, Grand Rapids, Mankato, Minneapolis, Moorhead, St. Paul, Richfield, St. Cloud, Virginia, Willmar, and Woodbury.
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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 Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, 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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