Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The American mullahs are gaining

Planned Parenthood said on Monday it is pulling out of the United States federal family planning programme rather than abide by a new Trump administration rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions.

Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood's acting president and CEO, said the organisation's nationwide network of health centres would remain open and strive to make up for the loss of federal money. But she predicted that many low-income women who rely on Planned Parenthood services would "delay or go without" care.

"We will not be bullied into withholding abortion information from our patients," said McGill Johnson. "Our patients deserve to make their own healthcare decisions, not to be forced to have [US President] Donald Trump or [Vice President] Mike Pence make those decisions for them."

[...]

Planned Parenthood was not the only organisation dropping out.

Maine Family Planning, which is unaffiliated with Planned Parenthood, also released its letter of withdrawal on Monday. The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, an umbrella group for family planning clinics, is suing to overturn the regulations.

[...]

Maine Family Planning CEO George Hill said [...] said the Trump administration regulation "would fundamentally compromise the relationship our patients have with us as trusted providers of this most personal and private healthcare. It is simply wrong to deny patients accurate information about and access to abortion care."

[...]

Along with the ban on abortion referrals by clinics, the rule's requirements include financial separation from facilities that provide abortion, designating abortion counselling as optional instead of standard practice, and limiting which staff members can discuss abortion with patients. Clinics would have until next March to separate their office space and examination rooms from the physical facilities of providers that offer abortions.

[...]

A federal appeals court in San Francisco is weighing a lawsuit to overturn the rules, but so far, the court has allowed the administration to go ahead with enforcement. Oral arguments are scheduled the week of September 23. Several states and the American Medical Association have joined the suit as plaintiffs. Activists are also pressing Congress to overturn the rule.

  alJazeera
This is a MAGA disaster.

No comments: