May 30, 2018
By: Senator Elizabeth Warren
Source: TIME
TIME: Trump’s New Proposal Is Another Attempt by the Government to Control Women’s Bodies
The Trump Administration is trying to turn back the clock on women's
healthcare and reproductive rights.
...
Last week, the president proposed reviving a Reagan-era rule that targets
the Title X family planning program. The rule is a multi-pronged attack on
women. First, it threatens Title X patients' access to medically accurate
information by restricting what providers can tell patients about abortion
services - even when patients directly ask for that information. Second, it
loosens Title X's quality standards, making it easier for unqualified providers
- like deceptive crisis pregnancy centers - to take part in the program. And
third, it deliberately targets Planned Parenthood, one of the largest providers
of Title X services. Title X doesn't fund abortions and never has. But the rule
would require Title X providers that perform abortions to do so in "physically
separate facilities"- raising providers' costs in an effort to force them
out of the program.
Let's be clear: the gag rule the president has proposed is not about
improving women's health care. Title X health clinics provide birth control,
cancer screenings and HIV tests to over four million Americans. In 2016 alone,
Title X health centers provided 720,000 medical exams for women, nearly one
million breast exams and over one million HIV tests. The president's new rule
would put much of this life-saving care at risk. The impact of the rule will
fall hardest on women who are already struggling. The overwhelming majority of
Title X patients have family incomes below the federal poverty level and many
don't have health insurance.
...
The new Title X rule is right-wing ideology disguised as health policy.
President Trump and Vice President Pence are trying to control women and shut
down Planned Parenthood and other Title X providers that offer critical
reproductive healthcare. They may think they've won this battle, but when it
comes to the fight for reproductive rights, we will not be silenced - we will
march, we will protest and we will persist.
Read the full op-ed on the Time Magazine website here.
By: Senator Elizabeth Warren
Source: TIME
Next Article Previous Article