3.6.19 PRRI Public Fellow: Congress Needs to Remove Trump’s “Gag” Rule

PRRI Public Fellow: Congress Needs to Remove Trump’s “Gag” Rule

In a new opinion piece for Morning Consult, PRRI Public Fellow Rebecca Todd Peters argues that Congress needs to eliminate new guidelines for Title X funding set forth by the Trump administration. Peters believes that the recent mandates, which banned federal funding for health centers that provide abortion, have little to do with protecting patients. She cites PRRI data showing that 60 percent of Americans “trust health care providers and agree that they should be able to discuss the option of abortion with their patients, even if the providers receive federal funding.” In The Atlantic, reporter Olga Khazan writes that the changes could require some providers to renovate their facilities. She writes, “It’s not clear yet whether the loss of Title X funding would mean the closure of more Planned Parenthood clinics. In the clinics it supports, Title X provides about a fifth of the revenue. In the past, funding cuts and legislative restrictions have prompted abortion clinics to shut down.”
Border Patrol Facilities Putting Detainees at Risk

“The deaths of two children in Border Patrol custody point to shortfalls in health care provided to migrants, who sometimes arrive with serious illness and injury,” writesSheri Fink and Caitlin Dickerson in an investigation from The New York Times. The report outlines the struggles of thousands of migrants who cross the southern border each day, many of whom require medical attention after a grueling journey. A major issue, the authors point out, is that many U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities lack staffing or accommodations to absorb and tend to migrants, resulting in “dangerous medical oversights.” According to a 2018 PRRI poll, Americans largely agree that the U.S. should provide refuge and protection for migrants when they are facing serious danger in their home country. Three-quarters (75 percent) of the public agree with this statement while roughly one in four (23 percent) disagree.
High School Wrestler Forfeits Rather Than Wrestle Female Opponent

An 18-year-old wrestler, Brendan Johnston, made national headlines when he decided to opt out of a wrestling match in the first round of the Colorado state wrestling championships, forfeiting the match. Johnston cited religious reasons for his decision to not wrestle against his upcoming female competitor, Jaslynn Gallegos. “There is something that I really do find problematic about the idea of wrestling with a girl, and a part of that does come from my faith and my belief,” Johnston stated. Gallegos, who advanced to the next round of the state tournament, told The Washington Post, “My whole thing is that I’m not a girl wrestler; I’m just a wrestler. So it kind of doesn’t hurt my feelings, but I do kind of take it to heart.”
Black Activist Takes Control of Influential Neo-Nazi Group

James Hart Stern, 54, is the new president of the National Socialist Movement, a group that celebrates Adolf Hitler, wears Nazi-inspired uniforms, and organizes public rallies across the county, Katie Mettler reports in an article in The Washington PostStern, an African American activist, became president after befriending the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Stern’s first act as president was to ask a Virginia judge to find the organization responsible for committing violence at the United the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, Mettler writes. Stern also plans to transform the group’s website into a site dedicated to Holocaust history.