UPI. Facing a Monday deadline to inform the government how it plans to comply with a new rule that bars Title X funds for organizations that provide access to abortion, Planned Parenthood said it’s effectively being forced from the federal family planning program in a move that will impact millions of Americans.
Planned Parenthood has said it has no choice but to leave the program, due to the rule, unless a federal court steps in. The organization said it would announce its next steps Monday.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has required all grantees to submit a plan by Monday detailing how they will comply with the new rules. Without the government funding, Planned Parenthood says it cannot remain in a program in which it’s participated for decades.
Alex McGill Johnson, acting president of the organization, appealed last week to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene, saying Planned Parenthood entities that are Title X grantees will be forced out of the program Monday unless it stops the administration’s so-called “gag rule.”
Critics say an exit by Planned Parenthood would most affect low-income Americans, minority communities and the uninsured.
“This gag rule will destroy the Title X program — putting birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings and STI testing and treatment at risk for millions of people struggling to make ends meet,” Johnson wrote in a letter to the court.
HHS issued the new rules in February prohibiting referral for abortion as a method of family planning for Title X grantees, and requiring clear financial and physical separation between Title X-funded projects and programs that offer abortion referrals.
