While the omnibus bill shows Planned Parenthood is still eligible for $500 million in federal funds for reproductive health services, they now have greater competition for it. More of the $260 million dollars in Title X funding for low-income contraception might go to other women’s health providers, including comprehensive women’s health clinics that practice modern fertility awareness-based methods.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced in February that they are looking for variety in family planning programs, and it appears Planned Parenthood is scared. Historically, Planned Parenthood received 25 percent of Title X funds. Maybe this is why Planned Parenthood rushed to publish misleading information about this year’s changes to HHS’s Title X funding announcement, and maligned HHS’s efforts to expand women’s healthcare.
Strange that an organization that advertises women’s choice does not want women to have more options in family planning.
Planned Parenthood’s press release on March 7 states that the HHS announcement attempts to “block women from going to expert reproductive health care providers, and instead pushing [sic] them to go to providers that emphasize abstinence only and don’t provide the full range of birth control methods, like IUDs or the birth control shot.” They also suggest that HHS’s plan “open[s] the door to anti-abortion counseling centers’ participation in the program.”
Problem is, none of this is true.
HHS is Expanding Access to Women’s Healthcare, Not Limiting It
Planned Parenthood’s release doesn’t actually cite the HHS announcement, but only a March 6 Politico article on the topic. That may explain why it is wrong about what the announcement actually said.
The actual announcement says that HHS is “solicit[ing] applications from public and private nonprofit entities, including comprehensive primary care providers … and women’s health centers … especially those proposing innovative strategies to increase the number of clients served or quality of services.” It goes on to say that it seeks broad competition and intends to “improve overall service provision” and “expand the breadth of service.” Programs that apply should prioritize low income families. Of course, the announcement does state that programs should offer a broad range of services, “including natural family planning methods – also called fertility awareness.”
In other words, it is clear that Planned Parenthood and centers like it won’t be excluded from funding, but rather, programs specializing in fertility awareness based methods could compete for Title X funding, thanks to the current administration’s efforts to meet a neglected portion of the statute’s regulation which requires the inclusion of FABMs.
These FABM practicing clinics could receive funding if they are part of a grantee project (i.e., a larger health organization or hospital) that collectively provides the broad range of family planning services, including artificial methods of birth control.
Many Faith-Based Providers Are Still Excluded
As reported in the National Catholic Register, many FABM providers will still be ineligible for funding under Title X, due to their beliefs about the morality and efficacy of providing artificial birth control. Meanwhile, so-called “anti-abortion counseling centers” (as the Planned Parenthood press release characterizes crisis pregnancy centers) can’t be a part of the HHS funding program, because they do not provide family planning services.
So, in reality, HHS’s announcement does not “undermine birth control” at all, despite what Planned Parenthood claims. Rather, HHS is simply emphasizing a part of the regulations that have been in place for a number of years, making it clear that they want clinics to provide more options, and place special emphasis on novel programs that are low-cost and can reach a broader range of families.
HHS Is Right to Finally Acknowledge FABMs
This particular regulation requiring the grantees’ provision of FABMs or Natural Family Planning has been a part of Title X for a number of years. So, why the current scare? Well, Planned Parenthood and clinics like it have never offered FABMs. Or if they did, they may be outdated versions, and by counselors or healthcare providers not trained in modern FABMs.
It makes sense that the announcement would include fertility awareness based methods in their call for providers. FABMs are as effective as other forms of hormonal contraception but without side effects. They fill an unmet need for women who want to space pregnancies, but do not want to take hormones. Unlike other forms of artificial birth control, the knowledge women gain using fertility awareness-based methods can assist in addressing infertility and other women’s health issues. These methods certainly deserve a piece of the pie.
Planned Parenthood seems to be lacking up-to-date information on FABMs, which are not the same as the archaic rhythm or calendar-based methods. Modern FABMs rely on easily-observable signs during a women’s cycle and are frequently backed up by fertility monitors that read hormone levels. They are also extremely low cost compared to artificial birth control, addressing the “low-income” priority of the announcement.
With all this misinformation, one wonders what exactly Planned Parenthood is afraid of. Perhaps it’s the fact that the marketplace for effective family planning programs has now been expanded? That Planned Parenthood, instead of getting a free pass to hand out less-than comprehensive care in terms of family planning, now has to compete in a broader market which includes modern, safe, holistic, effective, and desired family planning methods? That when all the family planning methods are laid out on the table, informed women won’t choose what Planned Parenthood has to offer?
Time will tell whether Planned Parenthood has, to date, had an unjust share of funding for women’s healthcare, and indeed, whether it was ever providing quality healthcare to women in the first place.
Rebecca Marchinda is an attorney, wife, and mother of three boys. She is a member of Women Speak for Themselves.
