Posted on 06/20/2019 9:18:08 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
The Trump administration’s plan to ban federally funded family planning clinics from giving abortion referrals will be allowed to go into effect nationwide, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling, allowing the changes to the Title X family planning program to go in effect while it’s being challenged in court.
The changes would bar providers who receive federal Title X funding from referring women for abortions, and drop a requirement that providers counsel women on abortion as an option.
They also require a physical and financial separation between Title X services and abortions.
The rule was supposed to take effect May 3, but was blocked in three separate rulings, each of which the administration appealed. The appeals court ruling was 3-0.
“Absent a stay, HHS will be forced to allow taxpayer dollars to be spent in a manner that it has concluded violates the law,” the ruling states.
The appeals court wrote the administration is likely to succeed in its case because the Supreme Court uphold similar changes 30 years ago.
It’s not clear when the changes will take effect. The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
Thursday’s ruling means Planned Parenthood and other Title X providers will have to comply with the administration’s changes or leave the program, which funds clinics offering contraceptive services to low-income women across the country.
This would primarily effect Planned Parenthood and other health clinics that also provide abortions, although federal funds are not allowed to cover the procedure.
Planned Parenthood has said it won’t participate in the program if the changes are allowed to go into effect. Planned Parenthood services 40 percent of patients who access care through the Title X program.
The administration awarded its latest round of grants in March, with seven Planned Parenthood affiliates receiving funds.
Wow, has Trump turned the 9th Circuit?
He is working on it but it’s overall still very liberal. But the odds are getting better that a three judge panel leans toward sanity and it looks like that’s what happened here.
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