Press Releases
05/04/2020
Attorney General Tong Joins Multistate Amicus Challenging Title X Gag Rule
Before the Rule took effect, the Title X family planning program served four million patients nationwide
(Hartford, CT) -- Attorney General William Tong joined a multistate coalition filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, supporting the City of Baltimore in its lawsuit against the Trump-Pence Administration’s Title X rule.
The new rule restricts access to critical preventive reproductive healthcare by prohibiting doctors from providing referrals for abortion or offering complete information to patients about their family planning options. In the brief, the coalition explains that the new rule endangers the health, well-being, and economic security of their residents, leaving patients in entire regions and states nationwide without providers. The coalition urges the Court to uphold a lower court ruling halting implementation of the Title X rule.
“There is no space for politics in the relationship between a woman and her doctor. The Title X gag rule puts clinics in an impossible position—either stop giving patients vital medical information, or give up millions of dollars in federal funding. We cannot afford this partisan attack on our healthcare providers, especially in the midst of a pandemic,” said Attorney General Tong.
The Title X family planning program is instrumental in the states’ efforts to deliver preventative and reproductive healthcare to low-income women and families. Over the last 50 years, Title X has created a strong network of medical providers committed to delivering high-quality, evidence-based preventive health services. Prior to 2019, the Title X program funded a wide array of critical public health services, including family planning counseling, access to FDA-approved contraceptive methods, pelvic exams, and crucial screenings for high blood pressure, anemia, diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and cervical and breast cancer. The Trump-Pence Administration’s new Title X Rule, however, has harmed the Title X program nationwide.
Since the new Title X Rule went into effect, the states’ Title X programs have been upended, with many qualified providers leaving the program. In 13 states, more than 50 percent of Title X grantees have withdrawn from the program, and several states no longer have any Title X providers. Further, new providers have not filled the gap caused by the withdrawals. As a result, states have faced increased burdens to meet residents’ needs for essential healthcare.
Prior to the rule, clinics providing family planning services to low income people in Connecticut received $2.5 million in Title X funding, serving over 45,000 patients. Were those clinics to stop serving those patients, other health care providers in Connecticut would need to more than triple their reproductive care client caseloads to meet the demand—an increase not feasible with existing funding and staffing levels at other clinics. Planned Parenthood of Southern New England elected to stop receiving Title X funding as a result of the rule.
The coalition also notes that in light of the recent pandemic, clinic withdrawals from the Title X program place an additional strain on health systems nationwide. Due to COVID-19, many people have lost insurance coverage or are experiencing financial instability due to unemployment and could benefit from Title X’s low-cost services.
Attorney General Tong joined the attorneys general of California, Nevada, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia in filing the brief.
A copy of the amicus brief is available here.
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