Federal judge allows 'gag rule' on abortion referrals to take effect in Maine
Source: Portland Press Herald
A federal judge will allow a new rule on family planning funds to take effect even as a Maine abortion provider challenges it in court.
Maine Family Planning and the national Center for Reproductive Rights sued the Trump administration in U.S. District Court in Portland this year, claiming the rule will limit access to abortion services. It is one of several similar lawsuits filed across the country.
While judges in some other states did block the rule, a panel of federal appeals court judges decided last month that it could take effect immediately. In Maine, U.S. District Judge Lance Walker also decided Wednesday that he would not block the federal government from implementing the rule as that lawsuit proceeds.
Federal Title X funds pay for birth control, STD tests and cancer screenings for low-income people. The new rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services bans family planning clinics that receive Title X funds from making abortion referrals – what critics are calling a “gag rule.” Those clinics also would be barred from providing abortion services in the same buildings where they provide the health services paid for by the Title X funds, a requirement that would increase costs for many providers.
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Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2019/07/03/federal-judge-allows-gag-rule-on-abortion-referrals-to-take-effect-in-maine/
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