Baltimore health clinics fear a proposed federal gag rule that would prohibit money from going to centers that perform or refer patients for abortions would undercut their ability to care for the city’s most vulnerable residents.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a rule that would withhold funding from the Title X Family Planning Program. The federal agency is taking public comments on the issue, which is being criticized by local lawmakers and health officials, until Tuesday.

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Recently, Baltimore, Maryland, became the largest city in the United States to ban restaurants from including sodas and other sugary drinks on their menus for children.

Now, Baltimore’s restaurants can only offer milk, water or 100 percent fruit juice as drinks with meals meant for children.

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More than 2,200 Maryland residents died in 2017 from unintended drug and alcohol-related intoxication, setting an all-time mark for the state in the seventh consecutive year.

“We are seeing an epidemic of overdoses in Maryland and around the country and these numbers are terrifying,” said Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen in response to the report. “We are not even at the peak of the epidemic and we don’t know what the peak looks like.”

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On Monday, at our Druid Health Clinic, doctors and nurses stood with Mayor Catherine Pugh and our entire Baltimore City federal delegation – Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Representatives Elijah Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, and John Sarbanes – to voice our strong opposition to the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to Title X family planning services. These changes will hurt four million people, many of whom already bear the brunt of health disparities and inequities, including women of color and low-income individuals.

Maryland, a state that already had one of the country's most punishing overdose mortality rates, notched a record-high number of drug deaths last year. The grim milestone was fueled by an alarming increase of fentanyl-related fatalities.

Despite renewed efforts to beat back the opioid epidemic, newly released figures from Maryland's health department show there were 2,282 intoxication deaths in 2017. Nearly 90 percent of those deaths were opioid-related, particularly the powerful, cheap synthetic forms that have been sweeping across America amid the nation's worst-ever drug crisis.

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WYPR asked nearly two dozen denizens -- From Mayor Catherine Pugh ... to film director and author John Waters, and Dr. Leana Wen -- to make a wish and tell us what they most desire for Charm City, on the threshold of its 289th year.

Listen here.

Representative Elijah Cummings and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced a new bill at a roundtable discussion Friday in downtown Baltimore.

The Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency Act would treat the opioid crisis like a public health emergency.

If the CARE Act passes, it would provide $100 billion over 10 years towards the fight against the opioid crisis.

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With 175 Americans dying each day from drug overdoses, the opioid crisis is akin to “a plane crashing every day,” Mayor Catherine Pugh said on Friday as she and other Baltimore officials urged Congress to approve comprehensive legislation to combat the epidemic.

“We are in desperate need at this particular point in time,” Pugh said at a roundtable discussion that included .Baltimore Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, community leaders and addiction experts at the city offices of Health Care for the Homeless.

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House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings and Senator Elizabeth Warren hold a roundtable with congressional colleagues, Baltimore officials, and community representatives to discuss the city’s opioid crisis.

View a recording of the roundtable from CSPAN.

Baltimore City Commissioner of Health Dr. Leana Wen talked about challenges facing large cities like Baltimore in dealing with the opioid epidemic. She spoke via video link from Baltimore.

Watch the segment here.