Last week the Biden took two actions to expand access to reproductive health care: the FDA lightening restrictions to medication abortion access during the pandemic and the Biden administration beginning its rollback of Trump’s harmful Title X program rules. Dee Srivastava, Policy Analyst at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Nina Serriane, Legislative Affairs Manager at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, celebrate the recent changes in access to medication abortion and the lifting of restrictions on the national Title X program with us.

On April 12th, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration suspended a medically unnecessary barrier to medication abortion—requiring patients to access medication abortion pills in person at a hospital, doctor’s office, or clinic—for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that people will not need to expose themselves to COVID to get the basic care that they need in states that permit it. It also allows patients in some states to access abortion care in a way that is safe, effective, and ensures privacy. It is important to remember that restrictions to medication abortion care existed before the pandemic, and after the pandemic is over we need to fight to ensure these unnecessary barriers to abortion access are eliminated permanently.

In 2019, the Trump-Pence administration instituted a “domestic gag rule” on the Title X family planning program, which prohibited grants from going to providers where clinicians divulged to their patients how to safely access abortion care. This prevented providers from being able to disclose a full range of information to their patients and severely limited the comprehensive care that patients were able to receive. On April 14th, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed the rescinding of this rule. This Trump rule resulted in the Title X network’s capacity being slashed in half, and the health needs of people around the U.S. have only increased during the pandemic. Since this is a proposed rule, there will now be a public comment process, which you can find more information about in the Take Action section. The comment deadline is May 17th, 2021. 

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