Submit your comment to the Department of Health and Human Services
The Trump Administration is *yet again* doing its damnedest to restrict access to reproductive healthcare. In late May, the administration proposed a new rule that would prohibit Title X-funded clinics from providing information to patients about abortion.
What does this mean?
Under the gag rule, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals would be prohibited by the government from discussing abortion options with patients or making referrals for abortion services. This rule would directly interfere with patient-provider relationships by forcing clinics to withhold pertinent healthcare information. Patients would no longer be able to trust that they were receiving complete and accurate information about their healthcare. It would also block clinics like Planned Parenthood from receiving any Title X funding, cutting off access to birth control, cancer screenings, hormone replacement therapy, and other preventive services to millions of people.
Time is running out – the final day to submit a comment to the Department of Health and Human Services is July 31st.
Join us in telling this administration NO gag rule.
What should I do?
- Take 5 minutes to write your own comment.
- Gather your friends and family and get them to craft and submit comments.
- Post about #NoGagRule on social media and encourage others to write and submit their own unique comments to HHS.
Tips for making your comment the most effective:
- DO address your comment to Secretary Azar.
- DO start by saying you OPPOSE this proposed rule.
- DO include why these rules will be harmful on a broad scale. Let HHS know:
- Under this rule, patients would no longer be able to trust that they were receiving complete and accurate information about their healthcare.
- The proposed rule would directly interfere with the patient-provider relationship by forcing clinics to withhold pertinent healthcare information about abortion.
- Under this proposed rule, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals would be prohibited by the government from discussing abortion options with patients or making referrals for abortion services.
- The gag rule will also make it impossible for reproductive health care providers like Planned Parenthood to serve patients in the Title X program, threatening to cut off access to birth control, hormone replacement therapy, and other reproductive healthcare for millions of people.
- Organizations, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, have all opposed the proposed rule. These experts also note that the proposed rule would exacerbate health disparities, potentially violate providers’ codes of ethics, and undercut access to care.
- DO share your story. Why is this relevant to you as a student? As a young person? Why are you angry? How will this affect you?
- DON’T copy and paste other peoples’ comments. This administration has been lumping the same comments together and counting them as one. That means that if 50 people write comments that are all identical, they will only be counted as a single comment.
Women need and should be allowed the right to make decisions concerning their own bodies. They and only they know what is the correct decision for them.
No one makes an informed decision without complete information. Everyone has the right to know anything and everything that will affect them and their health.