Jul 22, 2019

Trump administration delays enforcing new abortion restriction rule

 Pro-choice supporters and staff of Planned Parenthood hold a rally outside the Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services Center in St. Louis, Missouri, May 31.

Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images


The Trump administration has postponed its plan to enforce a new rule preventing taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions, AP reports.

The big picture: The Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that the ban was effective immediately. But it sent a notice Saturday night to clinics saying it would give them more time to comply with the rule, according to AP, which reviewed the notice.

What they're saying: The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, which represents the clinics and which has filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the abortion restrictions, issued a statement calling the memo "wholly insufficient."

Go deeper: The states that have passed abortion restriction laws

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