Trump administration upholds ‘one of its gravest attacks on abortion since election’
By: Maya Oppenheim, The Independent, February 26, 2020
The Trump administration has upheld one of its gravest attacks on abortion since the election and clinics which offer the procedure could be forced to close, campaigners have warned.
Click here to read Campaign for Accountability’s statement.
The frontline service providers’ stark warning comes after the US appeals court upheld rules which implement barriers for women who need abortions.
The changes ban taxpayer-funded clinics in the Title X program – the federal grant program that subsidizes affordable birth control, cancer screenings, HIV screening and other medical care for four million low-income patients – from making abortion referrals.
…
Alice Huling, a lawyer for the Campaign for Accountability, a public interest watchdog based in the US, said the rule change which the US Department of Health and Human Services initially introduced in March last year was “staggering”.
She told The Independent: “It is one of the Trump administration’s biggest attacks on the right to have an abortion and the provision of comprehensive healthcare. It is part of an effort to wage war on women’s sexual and reproductive freedom.
“It is certainly the biggest effort the Trump administration has made to defund Planned Parenthood and to redirect family planning funding to other organisations – some of which give women dangerous, misleading and incomplete healthcare.”
Ms Huling said the changes had gone into effect last summer and have already had a “detrimental impact” on low-income women who have lost their access to vital healthcare.
“This change means many Americans can’t access birth control or STI treatment, plus it makes it much harder for individuals to access truthful, medically sound options if they are pregnant. But it is also important to note organisations are continuing to provide healthcare through other means via private donations.”