Biden reverses ban on abortion referrals ahead of Supreme Court battle

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday afternoon it is reversing a ban on abortion referrals by family planning clinics.

The new rule is called “Ensuring Access to Equitable, Affordable, Client-Centered, Quality Family Planning Services“. It has to do with Title X, the taxpayer-funded program that makes available more than $250 million a year to clinics to provide birth control and basic health care services mainly to low-income women.

“This rule is a step forward for family planning care as it aims to strengthen and restore our nation’s Title X program,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a press release. “We are making clear that access to quality family planning care includes accurate information and referrals—based on a patient’s needs and direction.”

The new rule takes affect Nov. 8. It reverses a decision made during the Trump administration that barred clinics from referring patients for abortions. This led to a mass exit by service providers affiliated with Planned Parenthood.

In a tweet thread Monday afternoon, Planned Parenthood said, “Our health centers look forward to once again providing access to affordable, high-quality sexual & reproductive health care through this program”.

However, it also expressed criticism.

“This new rule still allows Title X grantees to refuse to counsel pregnant patients about abortion as a health care option,” Planned Parenthood said. “A provider’s personal beliefs shouldn’t stop patients who deserve full information about health care options.”

Meanwhile, the National Right to Life Committee also criticized the new rule for what the committee describes as “supplementing the abortion industry through taxpayer funds”.

“Taxpayer funds should not be used to subsidize an industry that preys on women and their unborn children,” National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said in a press release. “The vast majority of Americans believe that using taxpayer funds to pay for abortion is wrong.”

The new rule comes during an escalating abortion fight in the United States, particularly in the Supreme Court. In September, the court denied an emergency appeal from abortion providers in Texas regarding the state’s newly enacted abortion law. The court is also expected to look at Mississippi’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy in December.