No extra money will be allocated to the Title X family planning program as part of a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill lawmakers released Tuesday, a blow to abortion rights groups that had argued more federal funding was needed in a post-Roe landscape.
The decades-old program funding contraception, STD testing, cancer screenings, and other services to low-income patients will receive $286.5 million for the ninth year in a row, an amount that the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood claimed was insufficient now that abortion is restricted in a number of states.
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HEALTHCARE POLICY WINS FOR BOTH SIDES INCLUDED IN MUST-PASS FUNDING BILL
“At a time of great crisis for reproductive health in this country, Congress has again utterly failed to safeguard access to the birth control and sexual health services made possible by the nation’s family planning program,” said Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association. “Flat funding means that there will be areas of the country without any Title X funding, and without those critical resources, agencies will be forced to shorten hours, lay off staff, and even close their doors, leaving patients without access.”
Abortion rights groups contended that the omnibus was likely one of the last chances to boost family planning funding for the next couple of years as Republicans will take back the House in 2023.
Title X is the only federal program that provides money to family planning service providers, allowing them to offer wellness exams, birth control, HIV testing, cervical and breast cancer screenings, among other services for free or discounted prices. Funding from the program, however, cannot be used for abortions. Republicans have long resisted increasing funding for the program on the grounds that it funds abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood. In 2022, Planned Parenthood regional groups received roughly $16 million from grants through the program.
Democratic lawmakers have been pressing for additional funding for the program since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. HELP committee chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) blamed this year’s flat funding on Republicans, claiming it was due to their “extreme position on reproductive rights,” in a comment to Politico.
The program has scaled back its operations in recent years, reducing the number of family planning clinics it provides funding to, and therefore affecting its availability to people.
In 2020, over 1.5 million patients received family planning services through Title X, roughly half the number of patients it served in 2019, according to the Congressional Research Service. About 84% of patients that received services in 2021 had incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, equaling a $27,180 annual income for a single-person household.
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Title X went through several regulatory changes during the same period. In 2019, the Trump administration implemented a rule that disqualified family planning clinics with co-located abortion services or who provided abortion referrals to patients from receiving funding. The size of the Title X network shrunk during this period as Planned Parenthood and seven state governments removed themselves from the program.
The Biden administration rolled back the Trump-era rules in 2021 and instituted new ones, including allowing minors to receive services, such as obtaining birth control, without parental permission, which has recently been challenged in court. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that the provision protecting minors’ confidentiality to receive services violates parents’ rights and federal law. The decision is expected to be appealed.
