Planned Parenthood of Illinois plans to stop accepting millions of dollars in federal grant money following the Trump administration’s announcement Monday that family planning clinics that take the cash may no longer refer women for abortions.
The administration notified clinics Monday that it will immediately start enforcing new regulations that prohibit clinics that accept federal dollars through the Title X family planning program from helping women find doctors who provide abortions.
The regulations also mandate that if clinics do perform abortions, those must be financially separate from services supported by the grant dollars. A requirement that areas where abortions are performed be physically separate from areas providing Title X services will go into effect next year.
And clinics that accept the money will no longer be required to discuss abortion as an option when counseling pregnant patients.
Proponents of the new rules say they will help ensure that federal money does not, even indirectly, help to fund abortions. Federal law has long prohibited taxpayer money from being used to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.
Opponents of the rule, however, including the Chicago-based American Medical Association and many providers, say it could limit women’s access to birth control, cancer screenings and testing for sexually transmitted infections.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois will not accept the Title X dollars as long as the regulations are in effect, said spokeswoman Julie Lynn.
“The gag rule is illegal,” Lynn said. “It’s a violation of medical ethics and it’s not something we’re going to participate in. It’s forcing doctors to not give their patients the full information about their health care, and that’s not something we would ever agree to do.”
Planned Parenthood of Illinois received nearly $2.5 million in Title X funding for September 2018 through March 2019 — more than 40 percent of the total amount awarded to all clinics across the state, according to the federal government. It was slated to receive another $3.5 million between April 2019 and April 2022.
Lynn said Planned Parenthood of Illinois does not immediately anticipate having to turn away or cut services because of the funding loss.
Across the state, more than 80 health centers received Title X funding as of June. About 112,000 people used family planning services at Illinois centers receiving Title X money in 2017, according to government data.
Some of those patients will see changes at other organizations in Illinois that plan to continue accepting the money.
Erie Family Health Centers plans, for now, to continue accepting the grant dollars. That means three of its clinics in Evanston and Humboldt Park no longer will be allowed to direct women and teens seeking abortions to doctors who provide them. They’ll be able to give patients lists of doctors but won’t be able specify which ones offer abortions.
Those clinics use the Title X funding to provide contraception to many women who are poor or uninsured, among other things, said Dr. Caroline Hoke, chief clinical officer at Erie.
“For us it will continue to be a balancing act,” Hoke said. “If we no longer have the funds to provide these services, it’s unclear where our patients would continue to access them.”
She called the new regulations “disgraceful,” saying patients who “rely on Title X because they’re poor or uninsured are having their rights to autonomy and self-determination trampled.”
Other recipients of the money in Illinois have included a number of Lake County Health Department clinics, Rush University family planning and various University of Illinois at Chicago clinics, among many others.
The administration issued the regulations in February. Since then, the matter has been tied up in court, but a federal appeals court ruled in June that the regulations temporarily can take effect while litigation proceeds.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement Tuesday, that, “The final rule protects Title X healthcare providers so that they are not required to choose between participating in the program and violating their own consciences by providing abortion counseling and referral.”
Catherine Glenn Foster, president and CEO of Americans United for Life, a anti-abortion legal organization, also praised the rules.
“In reality, no physician in America is being stopped from referring a patient for an abortion — they just can’t demand taxpayer funding to do so,” Foster said in a statement Tuesday.
lschencker@chicagotribune.com
