Baltimore Wins Order Blocking Family Planning ‘Gag’ Rule (1)

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department may not enforce a new rule governing the Title X federal family planning grant program in Maryland, a federal court said.

The rule severely restricts what health-care providers that receive money from the federal program can tell their patients about abortion. As such, it likely violates the Affordable Care Act’s noninterference mandate, Section 1554, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland said May 30.

The noninterference mandate prohibits the government from creating unreasonable barriers to health care, interfering with physician-patient communications, and violating informed consent principles by restricting full disclosure, the ...