05/19/2018
Statement of Melanie Thompson, MD, Chair, HIV Medicine Association
The Trump Administration’s intention to bar Title X Family Planning Program-funded women’s reproductive healthcare providers from providing counseling on abortion or from offering abortion services, violates key tenants of the Medical Code of Ethics, is an unacceptable government intrusion on the provider and patient relationship, constitutes a threat to the health and lives of low income women, and will undermine efforts to prevent HIV infections and sexually transmitted diseases.
Women’s health and reproductive health clinics are already prohibited from using federal funds to provide abortion services. This anticipated rule would severely restrict access to affordable reproductive health services for low-income women by forcing the 4,000 clinics nationwide that rely on Title X funding to choose between offering accurate and complete medical information regarding their reproductive health options or risk losing funds critical to keeping their clinic doors open.
Planned Parenthood and other Title X-funded clinics are critical components of the healthcare and HIV safety net. In rural and medically underserved urban areas, these clinics are often the only source of HIV and STD screening and prevention services for low income women and other populations at higher risk for HIV infection. Restricting access to basic preventive services will have a disproportionate and discriminatory impact on women of color who represent more than 50 percent of patients served by Title X clinics. The anticipated rule also would be a major setback to HIV and STD prevention efforts, at a time when the HIV epidemic continues to rage in the US and rates of sexually transmitted diseases are climbing for all populations.
Once again, HIV prevention and women’s lives are under attack by this administration. As healthcare providers committed to improving access to high quality, affordable, evidence-based prevention and healthcare, the members of HIVMA urge the Administration not to release this rule, which would jeopardize the health and lives of more than 4 million women by promulgating egregious and unethical healthcare policies driven by political ideology rather than science