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Rights Group, Maine Abortion Provider Aim to Halt “Gag Rule”

Rights Group, Maine Abortion Provider Aim to Halt “Gag Rule”

Photo: 560 WGAN Newsradio


PORTLAND, Maine (AP) A reproductive rights organization is filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Maine health care provider to try to block new rules for family-planning grants that are backed by the Trump administration.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced new rules last week to prohibit family planning clinics funded by the federal Title X program from making abortion referrals. The New York City-based Center for Reproduction Rights announced on Wednesday that it’s filing a lawsuit against the rules on behalf of Maine Family Planning.

Maine Family Planning says the new rules could cause all but one of its 18 clinics in the state to cease performing abortions. The organization and the center derided the rules as a “gag rule” designed to cut off access to abortion itself.

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