ACOG, others come out against proposed rule on Title-X

(HealthDay)—Health care organizations have come out against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' proposed rule that amends regulations governing the Title X of the Public Health Service Act, which provides low-income patients with access to family planning and preventive health services and information.

Organizations representing over 700,000 women and adolescent health care providers, including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and the American College of Physicians, are opposing all efforts to limit medically accurate health care information available to patients and exclude qualified providers from participating in the Title-X program.

The organizations present 10 reasons for the HHS to rescind the proposed Title-X rule. The proposal puts more than 40 percent of Title-X patients at risk of losing essential care by restricting access to medically accurate, preventive health care. The proposed rule forces health care providers to omit important and accurate medical information that allows patients to make fully informed decisions, which impinges on providers' codes of ethics and their responsibility to patients. The proposed rule also regulates how providers talk to their patients, restricting their ability to offer a patient their best medical judgment.

In addition, the proposed rule undercuts women's access to safe, legal abortion; uses medically inaccurate language; and is likely to reverse the national historic achievements in reducing unplanned and teen pregnancy rates.

Copyright © 2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.