Trump-Pence domestic gag rule is awful and will deny Virginia women basic information about — and access to — reproductive health care services

Not content with skyrocketing premiums that resulted from intentional policy sabotage, the Trump-Pence administration announced today that they will target women’s basic rights and undermine sound medical advice by issuing a so-called Domestic Gag Rule.

“Every Virginian deserves to decide whether and when to start a family” said Tory Brown, a spokeswoman for Progress Virginia. “Politicians in Washington or Richmond have no business to second-guessing these important decisions or interfering in women’s access to healthcare at the trusted provider of their choosing. This heartless move by the Trump-Pence administration will mean fewer women have access to birth control, STD screenings, and even general health exams, making Virginia women less healthy for the sake of ideology.”

There are three main components to the proposed rule:

1) Prevent patients from getting preventative health care or birth control from reproductive care providers of their choice like Planned Parenthood;

2) Greatly restrict the ability of providers and institutions from referring patients to receive abortions, which is too often live-saving care they need;

3) Reverse course from the last twenty years and allow doctors to withhold full and medically accurate information from patients about their pregnancy options. 

The proposed restrictions on Title X funding are opposed by public health advocates and the medical community, some of whom “fear the move away from science-based principles and erode standard of care by interfering in the patient/provider relationship.”

Brown continued, “Title X works. Right now we’re seeing a 30-year low rate of unintended pregnancies and an all-time low on teenage pregnancies. In other countries where the ‘global gag rule’ has been implemented, women are being forced to go without care while services are cut and health center close. The Trump-Pence administration are throwing away an evidence-based, proven program for the sake of a quick political win. According to estimates, this will increase the maternal mortality rate and the number of women who choose unsafe abortions.

Virginians deserve better than what the Trump-Pence administration is trying to implement. Progress Virginia will continue our fight for everyone in the commonwealth to have access to affordable and medically accurate reproductive health care.”