Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Proposes Repeal Of Trump's Abortion 'Gag-Rule' Regulation
NPR: Biden Administration Moves To Undo Trump Abortion Rules For Title X
The Biden administration is moving to reverse a Trump-era family planning policy that critics describe as a domestic "gag rule" for reproductive healthcare providers. The proposal published on Wednesday would largely return the federal Title X family planning program to its status before Trump took office. The current rules, implemented in March 2019 under Trump, forbid any provider who provides or refers patients for abortions from receiving federal funding through Title X to cover services such as contraception and STD screenings for low-income people. (McCammon, 4/14)
KHN: Biden Moves To Overturn Trump Birth Control Rules
The Biden administration Wednesday formally proposed the repeal of Trump-era regulations barring abortion referrals and making other changes intended to evict Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from the federal family planning program, Title X. The 2019 rules dramatically limited access to these family planning services for many low-income people. In promising to return to the pre-Trump rules for the program, the new regulations by the Department of Health and Human Services note that the Trump policy “has been devastating to the hundreds of thousands of Title X clients who have lost access to critical family planning and related preventive health services.” Since the Trump rules took effect, Planned Parenthood and many city and state health departments have dropped out of the program, resulting in six states with no Title X providers and six more with dramatically reduced services. (Rovner, 4/14)
In other news about abortion —
CNN: Judges Are Split On How Seriously To Take John Roberts' Abortion Opinion
Almost a year after Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the Supreme Court's liberals to cast the determinative vote to block a Louisiana abortion law, his opinion in the case is causing deep divisions among lower court judges and lawyers. Last June, Roberts, who had never voted against an abortion restriction, spelled out his thinking in a concurring opinion, perhaps to bring clarity to lower courts dealing with the explosive issue. Instead, that opinion has added to the tangle of cases and rulings throughout the country, some of which are now making their way up to the high court. (de Vogue, 4/14)
The Washington Post: Nebraska Corrections Official Hayden Thomas Resigns After Inmate Denied Abortion, Citing ‘Shame’ To Public Service
A Nebraska corrections official resigned in protest this week after his superiors tried to block a recently admitted inmate from getting an abortion, highlighting tensions over health-care access for female prisoners at a time when women represent the fastest-growing part of the incarcerated population. Hayden Thomas, who served as disability coordinator at the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, wrote in a scathing resignation letter to the director Monday that it was unlawful and immoral for the department to deny the woman’s request for an abortion. (Hawkins, 4/14)
