AUGUSTA, ME – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) and 41 Senate colleagues urged the administration to reverse the gag rule compromising the Title X family planning program and the health care of millions of people who rely on Title X-funded providers for cancer screenings, STI screenings, contraceptive care, family planning services, and more. In a letter sent to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, the Senators called on the Trump Administration to reverse course on the rule and maintain the essential care Title X-funded clinics provides for over four million patients nationwide. As a result of the rule, Maine Family Planning has chosen to forego Title X funding rather than compromise the level of care they provide to patients.

“Over the past few weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has provided minimal and conflicting guidance to health care providers about how and when the Department intends to enforce the Trump Administration’s Title X rule. This rule will undermine the essential confidential nature of the patient-provider relationship at the nearly 4,000 health centers receiving Title X funding. It will also needlessly compromise health care for the millions of people who rely on the critical services provided by those centers, including comprehensive family planning and screening for diseases such as HIV and cancer. In light of this dangerous impact and the many concerns raised by health care providers, patients, and other stakeholders throughout the development of this rule, we believe the rule should be rescinded,” wrote the Senators.

“Four million patients who rely on Title X-funded programs now face limited options, as clinics and providers recognize the new regulation will force them to choose between receiving federal funds and upholding the confidential relationship between patient and health care provider,” the Senators continued.

The Trump Administration’s gag rule undermines the historically bipartisan Title X family planning program and will impact more than 4,000 Title X-funded clinics operating in all 50 states. The rule interferes with the essential confidential nature of the patient-provider relationship and needlessly compromises health care for the millions of people—particularly poor and low-income patients—who seek care at Title X-funded clinics.

Senator King is a staunch defender of women’s access to reproductive health care, and strongly believes that a woman’s health care decisions should be between her and her doctor. Senator King opposed the Administration’s gag rule when it was first announced, and condemned the rule again after Maine Family Planning announced it would withdraw from the Title X program rather than limit the quality of care it provides to patients. In May, he joined his colleagues in the Senate to introduce a resolution asserting support for women’s reproductive rights. The resolution came on the heels of legislative efforts in Georgia, Alabama, and other states intended to undermine women’s reproductive rights and ultimately overturn Roe v. Wade.

Read the full letter below or access the PDF version HERE:

July 26, 2019

The Honorable Alex M. Azar II                    

Secretary        

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services      

200 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20201

Dear Secretary Azar, 

Over the past few weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has provided minimal and conflicting guidance to health care providers about how and when the Department intends to enforce the Trump Administration’s Title X rule. This rule will undermine the essential confidential nature of the patient-provider relationship at the nearly 4,000 health centers receiving Title X funding. It will also needlessly compromise health care for the millions of people who rely on the critical services provided by those centers, including comprehensive family planning and screening for diseases such as HIV and cancer.

In light of this dangerous impact and the many concerns raised by health care providers, patients, and other stakeholders throughout the development of this rule, we believe the rule should be rescinded. 
For decades, Title X-funded clinics have provided high quality health care to patients. The historically bipartisan program is intended to offer a full range of confidential and unbiased family planning services. Title X-funded clinics not only provide access to contraception, allowing women to choose whether and when to start a family, but also offer cancer and HIV screenings, STI screenings and treatment, and related preventive services. Four million patients who rely on Title X-funded programs now face limited options, as clinics and providers recognize the new regulation will force them to choose between receiving federal funds and upholding the confidential relationship between patient and health care provider. That is why health care providers, including the American Medical Association, Planned Parenthood, and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, and nearly half of all States have filed lawsuits against HHS to challenge this rule. 

In fact, health care providers have indicated the ideology-based restrictions put them in the untenable position of deciding between offering substandard care and withdrawing from the program, potentially compromising health care access for the poor and low-income patients who rely on them. Six in ten of the women who obtain publicly funded contraceptive care at a safety-net health center, receive that care through a Title X-funded center.  HHS should be seeking to increase access to contraceptive care, not advancing policies that sow confusion and make it harder for women to access the health care they need. 

We urge you to reconsider this harmful rule and instead work with health care providers to maintain policies that will help ensure that women have access to the family planning services, cancer screenings, and STI screenings and treatment that they rely on Title X-funded clinics to provide. Please contact Laurel Sakai with Senator Murray’s HELP Committee staff with any questions at (202) 224-7675.