Trump abortion rules go into effect

WASHINGTON — Taxpayerfunded family planning clinics must immediately stop referring women for abortions, the Trump administration says, advancing its effort to remake government policy on reproductive health.

The Department of Health and Human Services formally notified clinics that it will begin enforcing a new regulation banning abortion referrals, along with a requirement that clinics maintain separate finances from facilities that provide abortions.

The head of a national umbrella group representing the clinics said the Republican administration is following “an ideological agenda” that could disrupt basic health care for many lowincome women. Abortion opponents applauded the move.

The family planning rule is being challenged around the country in court cases that have yet to resolve the core issues involved. However, a nationwide preliminary injunction that had blocked the administration was recently set aside, allowing HHS to begin enforcing the rule.

Other administration regulations tangled up in court would allow employers to opt out of offering free birth control to female workers on the basis of religious or moral objections and would grant health care professionals wider leeway to opt out of procedures that offend their religious or moral scruples.

The Trump administration’s family planning policy is widely seen as a blow against Planned Parenthood, which provides taxpayerfunded family planning and basic health care to lowincome women as well as abortions that must be paid for separately.