The new federal rule, which has been expected for months, is almost certain to be challenged in court. It does not prevent clinics from talking about abortion with patients, just from telling them where they can obtain one. But it removes a requirement that the programs counsel women on all reproductive options, including abortion, a change that would make anti-abortion providers eligible for funding.
The rule is the most recent step in a series of Trump administration efforts to shift the direction of federal health programs toward conservative policies. The administration has expanded the ability of employers to claim religious or moral objections to the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that they offer employees insurance coverage for contraception.
Some of these changes are being challenged in lawsuits by groups that support reproductive rights, but they have broad support among evangelicals, who constitute a large block of the president’s political base.
The rule announced Friday is not a wholesale defunding of Planned Parenthood, a long-held goal of conservatives. Organizations receiving money through the federal family planning program, called Title X, could still perform abortions but would have to do so in a separate facility from their other operations and adhere to the new requirement that they not refer patients to it.
Organizations that receive federal funds have already been prohibited for years from using that money to finance abortion services. The new rule goes a step further by ordering them to keep separate accounting for their abortion operations.
The “domestic gag rule harms women in more ways than one,” Stephanie Schriock, president of Emily’s List, said in a statement. “It effectively dismantles Title X, forces doctors to lie and forbids them from referring their patients for abortion, and prevents women from being able to access Planned Parenthood’s services.”
Most of the changes required by the new regulation will be phased in beginning 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. Compliance with the financial separation requirement takes effect 120 days after publication, and clinics have a year to comply with the physical separation requirements.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.