[C]OLCHESTER — Attorney General TJ Donovan and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England called on Vermonters Wednesday to oppose a federal rule change they say would be a blow to rural health care.
A new portal on the attorney general’s website allows Vermonters to submit comments directly to the federal government opposing a proposal to change the criteria associated with a women’s health care funding program.
The half-century-old Title X program offers federal grant money to pay for family planning and preventative health care services. Title X funding does not directly pay for abortions.
The Trump administration’s proposed rule would bar that funding from going to health providers that perform abortions, or that refer patients for abortion services. Critics have called the change a “gag rule” that would restrict clinics from providing patients with complete information.
The administration has rebuffed the “gag” label, instead saying the rule change would ensure that federal funds do not support abortions, as is already required by law.
Donovan called on Vermonters to oppose the changes to the program, and said the program has been effective in its current form.
“Title X works,” he said.
Donovan argued that the rule change would result in unequal treatment of people who get health care services through the program, because it restricts providers from offering a full range of options.
When he asks his doctor a question, he gets an answer with a wide range of options, he said.
“There is no barrier, there’s no block to me from receiving that information from the doctor. And the simple question is, why should anybody be treated differently?” Donovan said. “I get it cause I’m a guy. Why are we saying to women, ‘you’re not going to receive this information?’”
Withholding information and options from women is “delegitimizing,” he said, “rendering them unequal human beings.”
“This is something we should all oppose,” he said.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England is the only recipient of Title X grant funds in Vermont. According to executive director Meagan Gallagher, nearly 10,000 Vermonters received services through the program last year.
Gallagher and Donovan say low-income people will bear the brunt of the rule change. Nearly 70 percent of clients at the clinics the Planned Parenthood chapter runs in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine have an annual income under $24,000.
Gallagher said the rule change would “make it impossible” for Title X patients to go to reproductive health care providers like Planned Parenthood, restrict health care providers from referring patients for abortions, and remove a guarantee that patients get the full amount of information from their doctors.
“On behalf of our patients, we will not back down,” she said.
A coalition of a dozen Vermont health care providers have come out strongly against the proposed rule change.
Abortion opponents argue that there are other ways the Title X program could be administered, besides through clinics that also offer abortions, like Planned Parenthood. Vermont Right to Life has suggested using another network, like community health centers.
The public comment period ends July 31.
Donovan said his office would be urging the federal government not to adopt the rule change during the comment period, but may consider taking other action later if the rule goes forward.
“I think we want to go through this process, see what happens, but we certainly reserve the right to take subsequent action depending on what the final product is,” he said.