Planned Parenthood Federation of America and other pro-abortion organizations joined a petition filed by the American Medical Association that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Trump administration’s “Protect Life” rule change to Title X’s family planning provisions. 
 
The rule forbids recipients of Title X funding from using the funds to “perform, promote, refer for, or support abortion as a method of family planning.” The rule prompted a mass exodus of abortion providers across the country, including hundreds of Planned Parenthood clinics. But the AMA says the rule interferes with “open communications between patients and health care professionals.”
 
The SCOTUS petition is the latest step in a legal battle the AMA launched last March when it filed a lawsuit to block the Trump Administration from implementing the rule change. The petition argues that a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the policy should be overturned. The AMA argues that HHS was “arbitrary and capricious” in creating the rule, which it also says violates patients’ legal protections. 
 
Director of External Affairs at HHS’ Office, Mia Heck, has promised to defend the rule. After dismissing the AMA’s characterization of the “Protect Life” rule as a so-called gag rule, Heck stressed in recent statements that, “HHS aims to ensure the integrity of the program so that more women and men are provided services that help them consider and achieve both their short-term and long-term family planning needs.”

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