Many clinics that provide family planning services still rely on Title X funding. Their doctors worry about what they can say to patients about abortion under new rules.
Planned Parenthood officials asked for a stay against new Trump administration rules that forbid organizations receiving Title X funds to provide or refer patients for abortion.
The move follows an announcement this week by the Trump administration that it will enforce new rules forbidding groups that receive the funds from counseling patients about abortion.
New regulations that would have taken effect on May 3 would deny federal funds for low-income patients to clinics that make abortion referrals. The Title X rules are on hold while lawsuits proceed.
In 1991, the Supreme Court upheld restrictions on family planning providers that are similar to rules proposed by the Trump Administration. But Trump critics say the legal landscape has changed.
Some public health officials fear Trump's move to change how the Title X family planning funding is handled may hurt the effort to cut the record number of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S.
Several groups that promote natural family planning and abstinence education say newly-proposed guidelines could open the door for them to receive federal family planning funds for the first time.
The legislation rolls back an Obama-era rule that prohibited states from withholding certain federal funds from organizations that provide legal abortions.
