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Planned Parenthood rejects restrictive US government funding and “gag rule”

BMJ 2019; 366 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l5227 (Published 20 August 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;366:l5227
  1. Janice Hopkins Tanne
  1. New York

Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of reproductive healthcare to low income women in the US, pulled out of the government funded Title X program on 19 August because new rules from the Trump administration prohibited it from referring for abortions or providing them—the so called “gag rule.”

Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood, said, “We believe that the Trump administration is doing this as an attack on reproductive healthcare and to keep providers like Planned Parenthood from serving our patients.” She said that the organization would continue to serve patients.

“Our patients come to us because they expect the best information and healthcare available. And we have a commitment to provide that to them. But the gag rule would make it impossible for us to provide that,” she said.

Planned Parenthood executives would not say how much the organization was rejecting, …

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