Planned Parenthood Great Plains Responds to Trump-Pence “Gag Rule”
 

“This dangerous policy isn’t just an attack on women’s rights. This is an attack on poverty.”

KANSAS CITY – This week, the Trump-Pence administration introduced a dangerous policy that would gut the Title X Family Planning Program—the nation’s federally funded program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care.

The nationwide gag rule will do three things:

• Make it illegal for doctors, nurses, hospitals and community health centers across the country that participate in the Title X program to refer their patients for safe, legal abortion.
• Impose new restrictions designed to make it impossible for patients to get birth control or preventive care from reproductive health care providers like Planned Parenthood.
• Remove the guarantee that people are getting full and accurate information about their health care from their doctors.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP) proudly serves tens of thousands of patients across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The gag rule will directly impact nearly 10,000 patients in Missouri who access PPGP services through the Title X program.

“First and foremost, we’re concerned about how this affects our patients,” Brandon Hill, president and CEO of PPGP, said. “No one should be denied access to the health care they need and deserve. This dangerous policy isn’t just an attack on women’s rights. This is an attack on poverty. For low-resource individuals, many of whom are people of color, Title X is their only source of sexual and reproductive health care.”

Due to the hostile political environment, PPGP does not receive funds from the Title X program for services in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

“Providing health care for underserved communities is an important part of our mission,” Hill said. “We are unwavering in our commitment to providing high-quality health care for our patients.”

Over the coming weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services is accepting public comments on the proposed rule. Planned Parenthood supporters will gather outside the HHS Region 7 Office at 5 p.m. today to raise their voices against the gag rule. The Fight for Our Rights #NoGagRule Rally will be at 601 E. 12th St. in Kansas City, Mo.

“We will stand with people across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma to fight back against this latest attack on health care coverage and access,” Hill said.

Although Planned Parenthood health centers nationwide make up only about 13 percent of the Title X health centers, they serve 41 percent of the patients who get care through Title X.  Preventing those patients from coming to Planned Parenthood health centers would mean many are left with nowhere else to turn.

The domestic gag rule has never gone into effect in the United States before. The Reagan administration tried to implement a gag rule in 1988, but it was held up in the courts and later retracted by the Clinton administration in 1993 after intense outcry from the medical community, including the American College of Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Reinstating this rule would prevent millions of people from getting birth control and preventive care at Planned Parenthood health centers. At the same time, it would also force doctors and nurses to withhold information from patients across the country.

About Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP)

Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP) has provided access to sexual and reproductive health care to women, men, and families since 1935. PPGP currently operates eleven health centers serving more than 75,000 women, men and teens each year in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. PPGP provides community education in its major population centers and has an active public policy program in all four states.