#NoGagRule
We're expecting the administration's dangerous "gag rule" to drop any day now.
The harmful rule is designed to block people from care at Planned Parenthood health centers. We succeeded in pushing back the proposal, but the administration is moving forward with a final version.
Trump and Pence might not think you deserve care, but we do. Health care is a human right, and we won't let this stand. Planned Parenthood's doors stay open — no matter what.
Here's everything you need to know — including how you can fight back.
What’s the Gag Rule?
President Trump announced the gag rule last spring — and we've been fighting it ever since. The proposed rule is a dangerous and unconscionable attack on our health and rights.
The gag rule would dismantle Title X, the one program meant to ensure that people with low incomes can access birth control, STD testing, cancer screenings, and other essential reproductive health care.
The Title X program mostly serves people with low incomes, who couldn’t otherwise afford health care.
An overwhelming 73 percent of Americans oppose gag rule, and they made their voices heard. Medical providers, patients, activists, and others submitted an astounding 500,000 public comments demanding the administration stop the dangerous rule. Activists held rallies, marches, protests, phonebanks, and more. It was such an outpouring that we bogged down the administration's process and delayed the gag rule from taking effect.
We’re still expecting the final gag rule any day now, but each day without it means that millions of people across the country can access the reproductive health care they need.
1.
Add new restrictions designed to make it impossible
for patients to access care at Planned Parenthood health centers through the Title X program.
2.
“Gag” health care providers in Title X by prohibiting them
from telling their patients how and where they can access abortion safely and legally — even if that’s what the patient wants, and even if withholding that information threatens their health.
3.
Remove the Title X guarantee that patients get full and accurate information
about their health care from their doctor.
Who Supports the Gag Rule?
And their appointed officials, including:
Senior Policy Advisor Valerie Huber
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs Diane Foley
What are the Effects of the Gag Rule?
The gag rule makes it impossible for Planned Parenthood health centers to uphold their medical standards and provide complete, ethical, quality care through the Title X program. If the gag rule is put into effect, Planned Parenthood would have no choice but to act in the best interests of our patients and providers and refuse to participate in an unethical Title X program.
Designed to block millions of people from care at Planned Parenthood health centers
Planned Parenthood health centers serve 41% of the 4 million people who get care through Title X funding.
Blocking these patients from Planned Parenthood health centers could mean millions of people would have nowhere to go for birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, and even general wellness exams.
Harms people of color, LGBTQ people, and people in rural areas
Of the 4 million people who rely on Title X to access health care, two-thirds have incomes below 150% of the federal poverty level, and nearly half lack insurance. Because of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other systemic barriers that contribute to income inequality, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people in rural areas make up a large proportion of people with low incomes and rely on Title X for their health care needs.
-
21% of people who rely on Title X identify as Black or African American, and 32% identify as Hispanic or Latino.
-
Nearly half of transgender people report delaying or forgoing health care because they can’t afford it.
-
More than half of Planned Parenthood health centers are in rural or underserved communities, where access to health care is already severely limited.
Limits our reproductive health choices
The gag rule is an attempt to weaken requirements that Title X grantees offer patients a broad range of FDA-approved and medically accurate birth control methods. As a result, it could severely limit access to birth control across the country.
The gag rule is also a dangerous barrier to our constitutional right to access safe, legal abortion. Under the rule, if someone is pregnant and wants or needs an abortion, their provider is prohibited from telling them where to get one.
Or if a woman’s pregnancy would severely affect her health — for example, if she discovers that she’s pregnant after being diagnosed with cancer — she might not learn that abortion is even an option.
Makes it harder for patients to get the care they need
We know the consequences of the gag rule because a similar dangerous measure in effect on a global scale. One of the Trump-Pence administration's very first acts in office was to reinstate and expand a "global gag rule," which bans overseas groups from receiving U.S. global health funding if they even so much as mention abortion-related services.
Evidence has shown that the global gag rule leads to increases in unsafe abortion, as well as unintended pregnancies, women dying from pregnancy-related complications, and infant and child deaths. It also leads to health center closures, which leave people with no place to go for health care.
We should be ending the global gag rule — not importing a version of it to the U.S.
Our bodies are our own — and shouldn’t be at the mercy of the Trump-Pence administration. #NoGagRule
For more than 100 years, Planned Parenthood has been dedicated to providing high-quality, affordable health care.
We’ll do everything we can to stop this dangerous rule, keep Planned Parenthood health centers open, and make sure patients have the best care possible.
How Would the Gag Rule Affect Access to Health Care in My State?
Governors from a growing number of states are rejecting the unethical gag rule — with some announcing that they will be forced to altogether forfeit the administration’s Title X funding in order to protect the health and rights of their constituents.
So far, 15 governors have spoken out against the gag rule, and the governors of Hawaii, New York, Oregon, and Washington announced they’d have no choice but to refuse to participate in the Title X program should the gag rule go into effect.
See how many people in your state rely on Title X. Many people who access health care thanks to Title X funding don’t even know Title X exists.
Donate
Help Planned Parenthood continue to protect our reproductive health and rights wherever they're under attack.
Are You A Health Care Provider?
Sign the pledge against the unethical gag rule.
Register to Vote
And commit to hitting the polls November 6!