What are counseling bans and gag rules, and how do they impede women's access to health care?
Having access to information about the full range of reproductive options is essential to making informed health-care decisions. Counseling bans, also known as gag rules, typically prohibit organizations that receive state and/or federal funds from counseling or referring women for abortion services, hinder doctors from treating their patients responsibly, and severely limit women’s ability to make informed choices.
Current State Laws
21 states have laws that prohibit some or all state employees or organizations that receive state funds from providing, counseling, or referring women for abortion services: AL, AR, AZ, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, ND, OH, OK, PA, SC, TX, VA, WI.
- North Dakota's prohibition has been held partially unconstitutional.
Current Federal Laws
Several federal laws constitute back-door gag rules by allowing health-care employees and companies to refuse to provide, pay for, counsel for, or even refer for abortion services – and in some cases contraceptives. The key laws include the Church amendment (1973, 1974), the Coats amendment to the Public Health Service Act (1996), and the Federal Refusal Clause (also known as the Weldon amendment, 2004). The furthest-reaching refusal law was implemented in 2009 through a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation enacted in the final days of the Bush administration. The regulation, known as the Federal Refusal Rule, expanded the ability of health-care companies and providers to refuse to provide, cover, or refer for medical services. In 2011, the Obama administration rescinded the key elements of the HHS regulation, including the problematic definitions that could have been interpreted to allow health-care providers to refuse to provide contraception.
2012 Enacted State Legislation
2 states enacted 4 measures that prohibit organizations receiving state funds from counseling or referring women for abortions services: AR, MN.
2012 Federal Action
In 2012, pro-choice senators took action against the global gag rule, a policy that had prohibited the U.S. Agency for International Development from granting family-planning funds to overseas health centers that provided, counseled for, or referred women for abortion care. President Obama repealed the policy in 2009. In May, pro-choice senators won committee approval of a provision that would block reinstatement of the global gag rule by a future anti-choice president, but, at the time of publication, the full Senate has not voted on this measure.
