Seven months after the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on abortion counseling in clinics that receive federal funding, these clinics still are providing such counseling because the government has not yet fully implemented its regulations.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services` Office of Population Affairs says it is in the process of instructing federally funded family-planning providers, such as clinics and hospitals, how to implement the rules under Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Guidelines will be sent ”fairly soon,” a spokeswoman says, to 10 federal health administrators after which family planning providers will have another 60 days in which to comply. Title X limits funding to programs that exclude abortion as a suggested family planning method or engage in activities advocating abortion- such as counseling.
David J. Andrews, of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York, says that while the group`s 923 clinics await the guidelines, ”patients in the Title X program continue to benefit from that program.” Seventy-one of 128 Planned Parenthood affiliates receiving Title X funding have stated they would not accept federal dollars if the regulations were enforced. Andrews says such chapters would seek donations from the public but probably would serve fewer people.
