[V]ermont has joined 20 other states in challenging the Trump Administration’s “gag rule” that prohibits abortion referrals and limits providers’ ability to give factual information about the procedure.
Attorney General TJ Donovan on Friday filed a motion for preliminary injunction on the basis that the rule is unconstitutional, and contrary to governing statutes like the Administrative Procedures Act.
The rule would jeopardize funding for 10 Planned Parenthood offices in Vermont — the state’s only Title X funded health care centers. It also redirects funding priorities from the federal Centers for Disease Control’s birth control recommendations to “natural family planning methods.”
“Thousands of low-income Vermonters rely on these funds for their basic health care,” Donovan said in a statement. “It’s unreasonable to ask health care providers to withhold crucial information from their patients.”
In Vermont, 10,000 people rely on these centers for health care services. Eileen Sullivan, Vermont communications director for Planned Parenthood, said the gag rule is “medically unethical,” and as such, the organization would not ask its centers to follow it, which means they would lose their Title X funding entirely.
“Any funding source is important for a nonprofit,” Sullivan said. “It provides us with the capability to provide care to every person, regardless of who they are, how much money they make, or whether or not they’re insured. This is about the patients.”
The Trump administration’s rule also requires health care centers to be located at separate facilities from abortion providers — though the Title X funding has never been used for abortions.
“Since taking office, the Trump administration has pushed policy after policy to take away basic rights and health care with hostile attacks on reproductive rights,” Sullivan said. “We’re grateful to the attorney general for taking this matter seriously to help protect Vermonters against any rule that violates medical ethics.”