For Trans Men Seeking Reproductive Health Care, ‘There Are Barriers Every Step of the Way’

For Trans Men Seeking Reproductive Health Care, ‘There Are Barriers Every Step of the Way’
“It’s ironic to me, in a really sad way, because so much of transphobia and transmisogyny is focused on the genitalia of a person, and in this instance our reproductive organs suddenly don't matter."

Jul 3, 2019
Tris Mamone

Despite working in the medical field for 15 years—six as an emergency medical technician and nine as a paramedic—Don Altemus rarely gets routine reproductive health-care examinations because they are often awkward for him as a trans man.

“I happen to have a very masculine presentation,” he told Rewire.News, “And long before my transition, people ‘read’ me as male.”

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/07/03/trans-men-reproductive-health-care/

USA – Birth Control Gets Caught Up in the Abortion Wars

Birth Control Gets Caught Up in the Abortion Wars
The Trump administration’s cruel new family planning rule threatens access to contraception and other health care for poor women.

By The Editorial Board
Feb. 26, 2019

In its continuing assault on reproductive rights, the Trump administration has issued potentially devastating changes to the nation’s nearly 50-year-old family planning program, Title X, which allows millions of women each year to afford contraception, cancer screenings and other critical health services.

Health clinics have long been barred from using Title X money, or any federal funds, to pay for abortions, but they have been able to provide abortions and other family planning services under one roof. Under the new rule, unveiled last week by the Department of Health and Human Services after being floated last year, a clinic that provides abortions will have to jump through an absurd series of hoops to continue receiving Title X funding. For instance, it will have to create a separate entrance to the facility for patients seeking abortions, hire separate personnel and establish a separate electronic health records system. Title X facilities will also be barred from referring patients for abortions. The rule gives discretion to the department to decide on a case-by-case basis whether facilities are in compliance.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/opinion/title-x-rule.html

USA – The domestic gag rule on abortion, explained

The domestic gag rule on abortion, explained
Anna North
May 11, 2018

Trump is reportedly weighing a rule that would ban some doctors from even talking about abortion.

The Trump administration last year reinstated — and expanded — a rule from performing abortions or even discussing abortion with their patients. Often called the Global Gag Rule, it’s led to clinic closures and reductions in crucial services around the world. And now it might be coming to the United States.

The White House is reportedly considering a domestic gag rule that would essentially apply the restrictions of the global rule to providers that receive federal Title X funds, which help low-income patients get services like contraceptive counseling and testing for sexually transmitted infections. Such a rule would force Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health providers to either stop discussing abortions with their patients or stop receiving Title X money.

continued: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-domestic-gag-rule-on-abortion-explained/ar-AAx72OD