Trump Title X gag rule chokes off health care
Planned Parenthood says state capital among six counties without a Title X health provider
Planned Parenthood Illinois President Jennifer Welch speaks on a media teleconference in support of the Fair Tax Amendment earlier this week. (Zoom)
By Ted Cox
A year after President Trump’s controversial Title X gag rule took effect, six counties in central Illinois are without a health-care provider under the longtime, low-income program — including the state capital’s Sangamon County.
That’s according to Planned Parenthood of Illinois, previously the state’s largest Title X health-care provider. The organization issued a new release Wednesday, on the first anniversary of the gag rule taking effect, surveying the damage across the state and finding that six counties — LaSalle, Macon, McLane, Peoria, Sangamon, and Tazewell — have no health-care providers under the program for low-income residents.
Title X serves to subsidize birth control and other preventive services for low-income families and grew out of federal subsidies first offered as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty in 1965. It was formally signed into law by President Nixon 50 years ago.
President Trump imposed what’s been labeled a “gag rule” on the program last year, forbidding any organization accepting funding under Title X from offering abortions or even discussing abortion options with a patient — a ridiculous position for anyone offering family planning. Planned Parenthood rejected that on the national level, as did the American Medical Association and many other health organizations, and Planned Parenthood of Illinois said it would continue on without the federal Title X subsidies — at an estimated annual cost of $5 million.
On Wednesday, Planned Parenthood of Illinois President Jennifer Welch issued a statement saying: “Without adequate funding, those most adversely affected by the Trump administration’s gag rule are low-income people, people of color, and undocumented folks who already face systemic barriers to accessing health care. PPIL remains deeply committed to providing uninterrupted access to essential health-care services, information, and education for all of our patients regardless of race, gender, income level, or immigration status. Without Title X funding, we are providing more care with less funding, which is not sustainable over the long term.”
The group has long made the case that it offers the only health care available in some areas of the state, and it stated Wednesday that “more than 100,000 people in Illinois rely on Title X to access basic health care like cancer screenings, annual wellness exams, birth control, and (sexually transmitted infection) testing and treatment.”
“It is unconscionable that the Trump administration continues to enforce this gag rule and deny patients access to time-sensitive and essential sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion, in the midst of a historic global pandemic.”
Dr. Amy Whitaker (One Illinois/Zachary Sigelko)
Dr. Amy Whitaker, the Illinois organization’s chief medical officer, added that the consequences are especially dire in a pandemic, saying: “The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated communities that were already struggling and often unable to access needed care. It is unconscionable that the Trump administration continues to enforce this gag rule and deny patients access to time-sensitive and essential sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion, in the midst of a historic global pandemic.”
According to the news release, “The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing health disparities nationwide, hitting Black, Latinx, and indigenous communities particularly hard. These disparities are being made worse by the accompanying economic crisis, which has put additional strains on the social safety net. Record numbers of Illinoisans are out of work, and an estimated 5.4 million people lost health insurance coverage nationwide between February and May.”