More than Two Hundred Members of Congress Oppose a Title X Domestic Gag Rule
More than Two Hundred Members of Congress Oppose a Title X Domestic Gag Rule; New Gag Rule Would Interfere with Doctors' Ability to Provide Patients Information about Reproductive Care
Text
of Senate letter (PDF)
Text
of House letter (PDF)
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
(HELP) Committee Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.),
Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Representative Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.),
Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee Nita M. Lowey (N.Y.), and
Co-Chairs of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus Representatives Diana DeGette
(D-Colo.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) led more than two hundred of their
colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex
Azar expressing opposition to the implementation of a domestic gag rule on
Title X, the only federal grant program solely dedicated to family planning and
related preventive services. The Members of Congress on this letter outnumber
the House and Senate Republicans who urged the Trump Administration to
implement the rule in April.
Each year, roughly four million people rely on Title X-funded health centers
for basic preventive health care, including cancer screenings, birth control,
sexually transmitted infection screenings, pregnancy testing, and well-woman
exams. In keeping with longstanding legal, ethical and medical standards of
health care, Title X providers can offer patients medically accurate counseling
on and referrals for all pregnancy options-including parenting, adoption, and
abortion.
"The domestic gag rule would bar patients from receiving information to
support their ability to make informed decisions about their own reproductive
health," wrote the Members of Congress. "We strongly
oppose efforts to undermine the integrity of the Title X program and harm the
millions of people who rely on it for care. Federal health policy should be
evidence-based and produced with the best interests of patients in mind."
Reinstatement of the gag rule, which has never been fully implemented, would be
President Trump's latest attempt to fulfill his pledge to "defund Planned
Parenthood," whose health centers serve 40% of the patients who go to
Title X for contraceptive care. If Planned Parenthood were eliminated as a
Title X-funded provider, other Title X-funded health centers would have to expand
their contraceptive caseloads by an average of 70%. The move would
disproportionately impact communities of color, the uninsured, and low-income
individuals, and could reverse progress made in critical areas. Title X has helped
women avoid 822,000 unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in
387,000 unplanned births and 278,000 abortions. Title X also yields critical
cost savings to the American healthcare system - every dollar invested in Title
X saves more than seven dollars in Medicaid-related costs.
Nearly two-thirds of Title X patients have incomes at or below the federal
poverty level, and 43% of patients are uninsured. In 2016, nearly 4,000 Title
X-funded health centers provided 720,000 Pap tests, nearly one million women
with breast exams, and 1.2 million HIV tests. Title X providers offer confidential,
medically accurate, and evidence-based care. Implementing a domestic gag rule
would do enormous harm to the millions of patients across the country who count
on the high standard of medical care provided by these health centers.
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