How Medical Ethicists See the Proposed ‘Gag Rule’ on Abortion Referrals in Government-Funded Clinics
“The Trump administration has proposed controversial new rules for clinics that get federal grants for providing reproductive care to low-income Americans. Among the proposed guidelines: Doctors and nurses can’t refer a patient to abortion services unless the patient comes in saying she has already decided to have one. Even then, clinicians may only—and only if they choose to—’provide a list of licensed, qualified, comprehensive health service providers (some, but not all, of which also provide abortion, in addition to comprehensive prenatal care.’ And ‘[t]he list shall not identify the providers who perform abortion as such.’”