FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Audrey Ann Ross
215-985-2619
audrey.ross@accessmatters.org
Statement from AccessMatters’ President & CEO Melissa Weiler Gerber on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Title X, the Nation’s Family Planning Program
[PHILADELPHIA, PA – April 16, 2021]: Yesterday, a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was published in the Federal Register aimed at reversing the dangerous Trump-era 2019 Title X Rule. AccessMatters’ released the following statement from Melissa Weiler Gerber:
“We applaud the Biden Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials for taking concrete steps to restore the Title X Family Planning Program.
HHS issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published in the Federal Register yesterday that would largely reinstate regulations that have governed the Title X program since 2000 and reflect the original tenets of the federal family planning program.
The proposed rule would reverse the Trump-era Title X rule that significantly altered the program in 2019, returning the family planning safety net program to its prior structure while also adding some provisions intended to improve the Title X program.
The 2019 Title X rule has deeply impacted the network of healthcare providers that serve over 3 million people nationwide each year- including 169,754 Pennsylvanians of which more than 80,000 people annually are served by AccessMatters’ Title X Network.
We are pleased to see an expedited comment period acknowledging the urgency needed to restore the program. Nonetheless, every day under the Trump rule deprives clients across the country from accessing health care they seek. We urge the Biden Administration to suspend the Trump-era rule immediately, even as the rulemaking process moves forward. This will allow grantees across the nation to begin the complex process of rebuilding their networks.
As always, our priority lies with our patients and providers. Since the 2019 Title X rule is still in place, we remain focused on mitigating the impact of the rule on providers and patients as much as possible. The time is now to restore the Title X program. We call upon HHS Secretary Beccera to suspend the Trump rule that has persisted through nearly three months of the Biden Administration so that people can access the vital health services they seek.“
###
AccessMatters’ mission is to protect, expand, and enhance equitable access to sexual and reproductive health care and information for all people. For more information about AccessMatters’ programs, follow @AccessMatters4U on Twitter, and @AccessMatters on Facebook.