Reaction to HHS Action By Governor Cuomo

ALBANY – Recently, Governor Andrew Cuomo took action to protect New Yorkers who have relied on Title X, our nation’s oldest family planning program by issuing a warning letter to U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II condemning the proposed rule changes to the Title X program and threatening legal action to protect New Yorkers if the rules are adopted.

Statement from Robin Chappelle Golston, President of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts:
“For over forty years, New Yorkers have relied on Title X, our nation’s oldest family planning program, for affordable, quality, preventative medical care including cancer screenings and birth control. The Trump administration’s continuous attacks on women and access to reproductive health care continue to push a politically driven, ideologically-based program that undermines the very people it is meant to serve. Governor Cuomo is taking a stand for New Yorkers by telling Washington that New Yorkers won’t accept bad health policy that hurts women, especially low-income women. A domestic gag rule is unprecedented and dangerous in this country, so we applaud Governor Cuomo for recognizing these threats to our rights and care.”

Specifically, the Trump gag rule proposes to:
* Ban health care providers that participate in Title X from giving women full information about their health care options, specifically information on where and how to access safe, legal abortion. This would violate a foundational principle that ethical health care and informed consent is providing complete, accurate and unbiased information.

* Impose new restrictions designed to make it impossible for patients to get birth control or preventive care from reproductive health care providers like Planned Parenthood.

* Eliminate the requirement that contraceptive methods provided by Title X projects be “medically approved;” as well as make explicit that Title X projects do not have to provide every effective and acceptable method of birth control.

All in all, the proposed changes would not only be a radical departure from the way health care has operated in the United States; it would completely undermine the important and essential Title X program.

In New York State, Planned Parenthood serves 52% of Title X patients and we are 34% of the state’s Title X sites. An integral part of our State’s health care safety net, there is no substitute for our medical services. Planned Parenthood believes that everyone should have all the information and care they require, regardless of race, their resources or where they live. We’ll stand strong so the women of New York have access to comprehensive reproductive health care.

Opponents to the proposed changes to Title X include leading provider organizations like the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Nurses Association (ANA), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and Planned Parenthood, Governors, mayors and members of Congress are also opposed to this dangerous policy, as well as 110 public health organizations.