Donald Trump’s administration will reinstate a decades-old policy that will strip federal funds from family planning clinics providing abortion or related services, marking its latest salvo to curtail women’s reproductive rights. The Department of Health and Human Services will announce the proposal on Friday, an administration official confirmed to the Guardian. The policy has been derided as a “gag rule” by abortion rights supporters and medical groups, and it is likely to trigger lawsuits that could keep it from taking effect. Federal funds are already barred from being used for abortion services under current US law. Abortion opponents have long argued that a taxpayer-funded family planning program should have no connection whatsoever to abortion.

Source: The Guardian May 18, 2018 11:59 UTC