Andrea Kane, MPA, vice president for policy and strategic partnerships at Power to Decide, told POPSUGAR that the Title X domestic gag rule — which forbids medical providers from sharing information about abortion services with patients, or risk losing their federal funding — has been disastrous. "The Title X program has been a critical part of ensuring that women with low incomes have access to affordable, quality contraception," Kane said. She explained that for 50 years, the Title X family planning program played a crucial role in offering free or low-cost birth control, preventive screenings, and health education to millions.
"Title X providers serve a socioeconomically disadvantaged population, most of whom are female, low-income, and young," Kane explained. Two-thirds of patients served by Title X live at or below the federal poverty level and receive service free of charge.
The domestic gag rule has been catastrophic for people living on limited incomes, Kane told POPSUGAR, noting that it has forced providers across the country to leave the Title X program and lose millions of desperately needed dollars to provide low-income people with high-quality preventive health care services and a range of birth control methods.
As a result, some states are losing all or some of their Title X funding, while others are losing individual Title X clinics. Kane noted that 8.8 million women in 380 counties across the country are at risk of losing affordable access to birth control because the clinic they depend on has lost its Title X funding. She encourages voters to ask what each and every candidate plans to do in order to ensure that Title X can continue to provide quality, affordable healthcare services to those who need them.