To: Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services
Alex Azar: Help Rescind the Gag Rule
Dear Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar,
We are a coalition of social work students who appeal to you to reconsider your support for the “Compliance With Statutory Program Integrity Requirements” recently added to Title X of the Public Health Service Act – the so-called “gag rule” – as orchestrated under President Trump with your input: namely, the stipulation that restricts funding to any Title X program that provides abortions, abortion referrals, or any information regarding abortion.
Under the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics, compliance with the “gag rule” impedes upon our duty to promote the self-determination of our clients. As the Secretary of Health and Human Services, we look to you to lead us in respecting, maintaining, and encouraging the decision-making power of those we serve. We remind you of your professed allegiance to promoting individual capacity for self-care, in your support for adding work requirements to Medicaid eligibility criteria. We are concerned and confused by your neglect to recognize the same principles at play, when a woman seeks medical counsel to consider a procedure that drastically determines her immediate and long-term life trajectory.
As future social workers at the front line of delivering human services, we call on you to appeal to U.S. legislators to rescind the “gag rule.”
Thank you for your time and consideration.
We, the undersigned,
We are a coalition of social work students who appeal to you to reconsider your support for the “Compliance With Statutory Program Integrity Requirements” recently added to Title X of the Public Health Service Act – the so-called “gag rule” – as orchestrated under President Trump with your input: namely, the stipulation that restricts funding to any Title X program that provides abortions, abortion referrals, or any information regarding abortion.
Under the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics, compliance with the “gag rule” impedes upon our duty to promote the self-determination of our clients. As the Secretary of Health and Human Services, we look to you to lead us in respecting, maintaining, and encouraging the decision-making power of those we serve. We remind you of your professed allegiance to promoting individual capacity for self-care, in your support for adding work requirements to Medicaid eligibility criteria. We are concerned and confused by your neglect to recognize the same principles at play, when a woman seeks medical counsel to consider a procedure that drastically determines her immediate and long-term life trajectory.
As future social workers at the front line of delivering human services, we call on you to appeal to U.S. legislators to rescind the “gag rule.”
Thank you for your time and consideration.
We, the undersigned,
Why is this important?
As a coalition of Social Work students, we are upholding our duty to advocate for the self-determination of those we will one day serve. Under the NASW Code of Ethics, the "gag rule" impedes upon the decision-making ability of woman to seek medical counsel if even considering abortion. We appeal to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to reconsider his support, and lend his support to protecting the doctrines of basic human services.