By Nelson A. King
New York Attorney General,
Letitia James on Monday, May
17 continued her fight to protect
the health care and reproductive
rights of patients across New
York and the rest of the nation.
She co-led a coalition of 23
attorneys general in sending a
comment letter to the US Department
of Health and Human
Services (HHS), applauding the
agency’s proposed rule to undo
what she characterized as the
“harmful, Trump era Title X gag
rule.”
The new, proposed HHS rule
— introduced by the Biden-
Harris administration — will
rectify many of the harms the
2019 rule caused women, those
who live in rural areas, people
of color and members of the
LGBTQ+ community.
“This new, proposed rule from
the Biden-Harris administration
underscores its commitment to
protecting reproductive rights
of patients across the nation,
as well as ensuring access to
health care of so many of our
country’s underserved communities,”
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James said.
“The Trump Administration’s
Title X ‘gag rule’ was a
war on reproductive freedom
and prevented more than 1 million
people across the country
from obtaining access to quality,
affordable health coverage,” she
said. “And as we continue to battle
COVID-19, access to health
care has never been more vital.
“We look forward to continuing
to work with the Biden-
Harris administration to undo
all the harms of the gag rule and
expand health coverage for all,”
she added.
James noted that the Title X
program was created to fund not
only family planning counseling
and access to various contraceptive
methods but also critical
screenings for high blood pressure,
anemia, diabetes, sexually
transmitted diseases, as well as
both cervical and breast cancer.
But, in 2019, she said the
Trump administration’s HHS
issued its gag rule that imposed
major changes on the Title X
program, “which led to a dramatic
loss of Title X providers
nationwide.”
“In fact, since the 2019 rule
took effect, the Title X program
has lost more than 1,200 clinics
nationwide,” the New York
Attorney General said. “Due
to this loss of providers, the
number of clients served by the
program dropped by 60 percent
from 2018 to 2020. As a result,
low-income, uninsured, and
racial and ethnic minorities’
access to Title X family planning
services has decreased.”
James said HHS’s new rule
would put the Title X program
back on track to providing
underserved communities,
“with quality and accessible
medical care.”
For example, she said the rule
would: Allow Title X clinics to
provide a referral for an abortion,
if requested by a patient,
and share full information with
patients about their reproductive
health care choices; remove
the requirement that pregnant
patients be provided referrals for
New York State Attorney General Letitia James speaks at a
news conference in New York, U.S., June 11, 2019. REUTERS /
Mike Segar, fi le
prenatal care, even when not
requested by the patient; and
remove the current required
physical and financial separation
of Title X funded services
from abortion care.
In March 2019, James co-led
a coalition of 21 attorneys general
in challenging the Trump
administration regulation that
threatens essential services provided
under federal Title X funding.
James’ lawsuit eventually
landed in the US Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,
which upheld the Trump era
rule.
James then co-led the coalition,
which California later
joined, in October 2020, in filing
a petition that asked the
US Supreme Court to hear the
case.
James leads effort to undo
Trump era health care rule
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