There's a lot that people shouldn't be worried about with the TITLE X changes from the Trump Administration regarding TITLE X funding and abortion, but one aspect of the law that should be considered and fleshed out by BOTH Democrats and Republicans for its larger implications is the SPACE SHAMING requirement of SEPARATE PHYSICAL SPACES.
In order to fully protect women, I believe that the requirement of SEPARATE PHYSICAL SPACES should have the ability to be met with a separate part of the INTERIOR of the clinic space in order to protect the physical and emotional well-being of women seeking abortion. This is actually the only part of the rules that I believe directly jeopardizes women.
Space shaming is not new in the US. Whether it's children placed in time-out or sitting in the waiting room of a drug treatment center or being assigned to a particular section of a health facility, space and status are interwoven in our society and are symptomatic of "otherness" that is not merely separate but often deemed "worse."
Regardless of the practical purposes for these space determinations, their results are often stigmatizing and painful for the individuals involved. And don't kid yourselves, they open individuals up for the contempt, isolation and intolerance that often complicate and worsen the consequences of the particular action that got us there in the first place. Any parent who has sat with their children in the "sick child" section of a pediatrician's office knows the feeling…Your baby is sick, a threat to others, versus the "well babies."
And so the separate spaces rule of HHS regarding SEPARATE abortion facilities becomes a concern without further clarification of what constitutes "SEPARATE." Will an interior wall be enough? Because if the practicality of complying with the separate spaces requirement is a separate building or entrance, that is a knowing act by government to expose women to the risk of increased harm.
Currently, women who go to Planned Parenthood or other abortion sites already must often weave their way through protesters or worse, religious envoys attempting to sonogram their fetus, etc., in order to gain access, EVEN IF they're going for other health services. By forcing the physical separation of abortion clinics from the overall clinics, women are being exposed to unnecessary increased risk both physically and mentally.
There is NO overpowering reason to enforce separate spaces. Just consider the home office deduction as explained by the IRS. Without fanfare or separate entrances, individuals who work from home still must keep their home office space and expenses for the same separate. You can find this on the IRS website for Home Office Deduction.
As in the home office deduction, within their walls clinics can keep abortion spaces separate and add process to ensure that their finances for such abortion services are separate, which is already required under TITLE X, since TITLE X NEVER permitted federal money to be used for abortion.
Further, this is not a "Democrat-Republican" issue. Under President Obama there were a huge number of new state restrictions passed on the availability of INSURANCE COVERAGE for abortion services. (See Guttmacher.org, "Restricting Insurance Coverage of Abortion," 3/1/2019). The financing of abortion has always been a reason for insurers not to cover, likely less to do with the procedure and more to do with the opportunity not to pay for a health service.
For me the issue is that government should not create, support or pass policy that increases the likelihood of a specific group of people being harmed emotionally or physically for their legal health choices and the Space Shaming provisions under the TITLE X changes, i.e. separate spaces requirement for abortion clinics if not clearly honed to protect women seeking abortion will do just that.
