In January, the Trump administration proposed a new rule that would seriously compromise access to evidence-based healthcare and medicine for women by broadly expanding “conscience-based” objections to providing it.
The new rule would affect as many as 745,000 hospitals, doctors’ offices, pharmacies, ambulance services, and nonprofits, and cost approximately $312.3 million in the first year alone to implement.
While the rule targets access to safe legal abortion–the word “abortion” appears in the document 155 times–it endangers women’s access to evidence-based healthcare in many ways beyond abortion. It radically departs from HHS’ mission to combat discrimination, protect patient access to care, and eliminate health disparities.
As a member of The Alliance: State Advocates of Women’s Rights & Gender Equality, we submitted formal comments to HHS regarding the proposed rule. The Alliance is a coalition of state-based public interest legal organizations focused on women’s rights including The California Women’s Law Center, The Southwest Women’s Law Center, Gender Justice, and Legal Voice.
The 21-page document itemizes the specific ways this proposed rule will harm women, LGBTQ communities, low-income women, immigrants, people with disabilities, Black women, and women of color.
Read our comments here.
The Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing the rights of women and girls.
Sign up for WLP’s Action Alerts here. Follow us on twitter and like us on Facebook.
We are a non-profit organization. Please consider supporting equal rights for women and girls by making a one-time donation or scheduling a monthly contribution.
