5/18/2018

ABORTION/HHS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Health clinics that get federal family-planning funds would no longer be required to counsel women about abortions and could no longer refer patients for the procedure under a widely anticipated Trump administration initiative. The move is part of a sweeping effort by the administration to roll back access to abortion and contraception, and it could affect the medical information provided to millions of women. Health and Human Services plans to update its regulations by requiring a separation—both financial and physical—between any federal grants given under a program known as Title X and any facility or program where abortions are performed, supported or referred as a method of family planning, officials said. The new changes wouldn’t prohibit providers from counseling clients about abortion, HHS officials said. But groups that refer women to providers for abortion would stand to lose funding, they said. Organizations that provide on-site abortions also couldn’t get Title X funding.”

-Stephanie Armour, “Trump Administration to Propose Denying Funds to Clinics That Refer for Abortion,” The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2018 9:48 am