Clinics Relieved That Abortion ‘Gag Rule’ Is Put on Hold

Family planning clinics are no longer implementing the controversial “gag rule” on abortion counseling, after a court-ordered delay and the likely prospect that President-elect Bill Clinton will reverse the ban altogether.

For clinics in the South Bay, the lifting of the rule has simplified counseling and bookkeeping procedures.

“We’re thrilled not to have to deal with it anymore. It was making it more difficult to provide services,” said Vanessa Poster, director of development at the South Bay Free Clinic.

“There was a huge collective sigh of relief . . . that we could fully inform people of their legal options,” added Sima Michaels, associate director of the Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council.

But South Bay abortion opponents decry the turn of events, maintaining that federal money should not pay for abortion counseling.

The gag rule, a policy backed by the Bush Administration, barred federally funded family planning clinics from offering abortion counseling. When the policy went into effect Oct. 1 after years of court challenges, some California clinics responded with a bookkeeping plan that they said allowed them to continue counseling while technically complying with the law.

That plan called for workers paid with state and private funds--not federal money--to counsel pregnant women.

But on Nov. 3, after just 34 days under the gag rule, the regional Family Planning Council notified clinics that they could stop implementing it.

A federal appeals court in Washington had issued an Election Day ruling halting enforcement of the policy until the Bush Administration conducted a “notice and comment” period.

President Bush’s defeat at the polls the same day has sparked widespread belief that the policy may be never be enforced, especially because Clinton last week promised to reverse it.

Even in the short time the rule was in effect, it probably cost thousands of dollars for the 89 Los Angeles-area clinics affected by it, Michaels said.

“It was a major hassle,” she said. “It was creating a lot of paperwork and taking a lot of people’s time for something that did not improve patient care at all.”

Some clinic workers feared they might be approached by so-called “stealth clients,” abortion opponents testing the system to see if clinics were indeed abiding by the rule.

“It raised the level of suspicion when people called,” said Poster, of the South Bay Free Clinic, which offers family planning counseling at its Manhattan Beach and Gardena offices.

Like other clinics, the Harbor Free Clinic in San Pedro asked women taking pregnancy tests to sign consent forms saying they understood that counseling would not be paid for with federal funds.

“It was awkward trying to explain it to people,” executive director Donna Brown said.

Although clinic officials express relief that the rule has been suspended, disappointed abortion opponents warn that more abortions will result because of it.

“I think it’s a tragedy for women and for unborn babies if abortion counselors are allowed to promote abortion with taxpayer funding,” said J. T. Finn, director of the South Bay Pro-Life Coalition.

Responding to the appeals court’s insistence on a comment period, Finn said, “What I would like to call for is public hearings that would be broadcast on C-SPAN that include testimonies from women who have been scarred physically and emotionally by abortion.”