TRENTON, NJ — Today, the Trump-Pence administration released a gag rule that undermines Title X, the nation’s program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care, and makes it illegal for health care providers in the program to refer patients for an abortion.

“The administration has put health care providers like Planned Parenthood in an impossible position: withhold information from our patients, or get pushed out of a program designed to ensure that people struggling to make ends meet can still access essential reproductive health care,” said Triste Brooks, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central, and Southern New Jersey. “We won’t withhold critical information from our patients.”

“Health care is a human right and we will not let this stand,” said Roslyn Y. Rogers Collins, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey. “The Trump-Pence administration may not think you deserve care, but we do.”

Title X is the nation’s only program for affordable birth control and preventive reproductive health care. Title X ensures that every person — regardless of who they are, where they live, how much money they make, or whether they’re insured — has access to basic reproductive health services, such as birth control, cancer screenings, and STD testing and treatment.

In New Jersey, more than 70 percent of the patients served by Title X received care at a Planned Parenthood health center. Planned Parenthood was the sole Title X provider in 13 New Jersey counties in 2018. Without Planned Parenthood, all other Title X-funded sites in New Jersey would have to increase their contraceptive client caseloads by 254 percent to serve the women who currently obtain birth control from Planned Parenthood health centers.

The Murphy administration has already publicly denounced the gag rule, and members of New Jersey’s Congressional delegationhave also spoken out against the harmful change.

“The ‘gag rule’ targets women who live in underserved communities, already facing obstacles to accessing health care,” said Brooks. “We won’t be deterred; Planned Parenthood is committed to providing the care patients need — no matter what.”

A fact sheet on Title X’s impact in New Jersey is available at www.ppactionnj.org.