Shaheen Statement on Reports that Trump Administration Will Impose Domestic Gag Rule on Women’s Healthcare Providers

(Washington, DC)— U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) issued the following statement in response to reports that the Trump administration will impose a new rule that would bar women’s healthcare providers who advise patients on abortion services from receiving federal funding.

“The Trump administration is going to extraordinary lengths to restrict a woman’s constitutional right to reproductive healthcare,” said Shaheen. “These continued efforts to suppress women’s reproductive freedom not only threaten access to abortion services, but also a wide range of reproductive care, which will endanger women and lead to unintended pregnancies. This administration is putting political ideology above the health and wellbeing of women. Federal support for women’s reproductive healthcare is a bipartisan issue, and any effort to restrict access to necessary care will not go unanswered. In the weeks and months ahead, I’ll be working with Senators on both sides of the aisle to stop these attacks and to ensure that the health and wellbeing of women does not become a victim of the Trump administration’s vendetta on women’s reproductive rights.”

Earlier this week, Senator Shaheen joined a group of Senators to send a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, opposing this specific effort that would change the Title X family planning program to restrict access to affordable and accessible reproductive healthcare.

Senator Shaheen is a dedicated advocate for women’s reproductive rights. Senator Shaheen has been fighting for years to increase coverage of women’s preventative care in the annual defense authorization bill, and has repeatedly fought to repeal the Global Gag Rule, which bans critical federal aid for non-governmental groups that provide the full scope of family planning and maternal health services abroad.

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