The Trump Administration’s Domestic Gag Rule Would be a Disaster for Women in the Granite State

Women have a fundamental right to make their own health care choices. To compete on a level playing field economically and be full participants in our democracy, women must be recognized for their capacity to make their own health choices — just as men are.

Yet once again, the Trump Administration is attempting to restrict women’s access to critical health services and undermine women’s constitutionally protected rights with a new domestic gag rule.

This rule will prevent health care providers from giving women comprehensive information about their options when it comes to their reproductive health care, making it harder for women to make fully informed decisions and preventing their providers from giving the best care possible.

This rule, by design, blocks women from getting care at places like Planned Parenthood and other specialized health care centers and effectively dismantles the Title X family planning program, which would be a disaster for women in New Hampshire and across the country.

The rule also will stop Title X health care providers from referring patients for safe, legal abortion if that is an option the patient would like to pursue.

In New Hampshire alone, more than 17,000 women received care through Title X-funds. For more than 40 years, Title X has helped provide access to comprehensive family planning and preventative services, including cancer screenings, birth control, STD testing and counseling services.

Forty-six percent of these women received their care at a Planned Parenthood in the Granite State.

And research shows that these programs work, in 2015 Title X family planning services helped New Hampshire women prevent 3,800 unintended pregnancies.

This gag rule is yet another attempt by this Administration to restrict women’s access to health care and undermine women’s rights.

It is threatening critical services that have been providing care for decades and would harm thousands of women in New Hampshire and millions across the country.

Now, more than ever, it is important that you keep speaking out and sharing your stories about the importance of Planned Parenthood and these health services.

We cannot, and will not, stop fighting this Administration’s attacks on women’s health care.