Oregon v. Azar; AMA v. Azar
Issue: Should HHS’s rule preventing healthcare providers at federally funded Title X family planning clinics from referring patients for abortions be temporarily blocked from taking effect while lawsuits challenging the rule are pending?
Background: Title X of the Public Health Service Act provides federal funding for family planning services for low-income individuals. In 2019, HHS published a final rule that prohibited healthcare providers from referring Title X patients for abortions and required providers to refer all pregnant patients to prenatal care. The rule also required Title X clinics that provide abortion services to physical and financially separate those services from other family planning services.
Lawsuits challenging the rule resulted in nationwide preliminary injunctions issued by district courts, preventing the rule from taking effect. On appeal, the 9th Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction, allowing the rule to take effect. The Supreme Court agreed to review the case, but the case was then dismissed after the Biden Administration indicated that it would review the rule.
Current Status: Final decision issued
9th Circuit Amicus Brief, July 3, 2019
Amici: American Public Health Association, and 148 public health deans and scholars.
Argument Summary: By radically altering the Title X provider network, the Trump Administration’s final rule undermines access to effective care. The rule bars nondirective counseling and ignores extensive evidence of the threat to a viable Title X provider network and the adverse health care effects that falling provider participation would trigger. Additionally, the rule undermines availability of effective planning services by discouraging the most advanced, effective treatments. The final rule will lead to decreased access to family planning and life-saving preventive care.
Outside Counsel: McDermott Will and Emery LLP
Related Resources:
GW Milken School of Public Health. The Trump Administration’s Title X Rule Will Harm Health Care and Public Health, Amicus Brief Finds. July 10, 2019. https://publichealth.gwu.edu/trump-administrations-title-x-rule-will-harm-health-care-and-public-health-amicus-brief-finds
Rosenbaum S. A Catastrophe for Public Health and Law. The Milbank Quarterly. September 222, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.12421