The Trump administration will continue to give family planning grants to Planned Parenthood as it considers a new regulation to cut future funding to the women’s health and abortion provider.
Health and Human Services released the names of 96 organizations that will get family planning grants for the 2018 fiscal year. The grant announcement on Thursday comes as the agency is considering a major overhaul to the Title X program that involves cutting off funding to organizations that provide abortion, such as Planned Parenthood.
[Also read: Doctors group opposes Trump push to defund Planned Parenthood]
Title X gives grants to facilities that provide services, including birth control, pregnancy testing, disease screening, and counseling. The organizations provide services for roughly 4 million people.
The grants themselves will be awarded by Sept. 1. HHS did not disclose how much money it will be providing to each grantee.
Of the 96 healthcare providers that will get family planning grants, 11 are Planned Parenthood clinics. That’s up from 10 Planned Parenthood clinics that got grants in fiscal 2017, according to data from HHS.
Planned Parenthood said that all of the clinics who applied for grants appear to have been funded, but that questions still remained over what the dollar amount would be. Planned Parenthood said it was atypical for the information to be shared in this way.
“What is clear is that HHS intends to award Title X grants to Planned Parenthood for fiscal year 2018, further reinforcing the fact that Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider in the Title X program,” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
HHS will be funding 12 new organizations this year, which may shift some money away from the Planned Parenthood clinics or from other grantees.
The grant announcement comes after the Trump administration recently closed a comment period on a proposal that would install a series of changes to Title X.
The proposed regulation would revamp family planning grants to restrict funding to groups that provide abortion. It also includes new restrictions on whether doctors can refer patients to get an abortion.
Federal law already prohibits any direct federal funding of abortions, except in the case of rape, incest, or if a woman’s pregnancy threatens her life.
Supporters of cutting off funds say that the provision of federal dollars to organizations like Planned Parenthood frees up other money for the organization to provide abortions.
Mallory Quigley, spokeswoman for the anti-abortion organization Susan B. Anthony’s List, said that abortion providers use Title X as a “slush fund.” Once the rule is finalized, she said, all grantees will need to comply with its requirements.
“The Protect Life Rule does not reduce Title X family planning funding by a dime,” she ask. “Rather, it makes room for women and families to receive the life-affirming health care they deserve from thousands of willing providers.”
The American Medical Association and congressional Democrats have criticized the proposed rule.
