On August 19th, 2019, Planned Parenthood announced its withdrawal from receiving congressional appropriations under the federal Title X Family-Planning Program. This decision is a result of new restrictions put in place by the Trump Administration that would prohibit Planned Parenthood (PP) and all other organizations that receive federal Title X funding from referring patients to abortion services. Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood, has made it clear PP will refuse to comply with Trump’s “gag rule.” As not to compromise the quality access to reproductive healthcare the organization provides to all Americans. Title X funding has never been used to directly fund abortion procedures, and this has been accepted by reproductive healthcare establishments since the statute’s inception.

What is Title X?

The Title X Family-Planning Program is a Nixon-era policy introduced as part of the Public Health Service Act that focuses on providing low- to no- cost healthcare to uninsured individuals and those on Medicaid. As per its original writing, federal funding that reaches clinics like Planned Parenthood cannot be used for performing abortions. Instead, it provides counseling services, cancer screenings, birth control products, STD treatment, and even HIV testing. In addition, some facilities use funds they receive under Title X to further research and understanding of family medicine. This specialized approach to providing primarily low-income Americans with adequate treatment for their health and reproductive concerns has also saved American taxpayers millions. The Guttmacher Institute has estimated that for every one dollar of federal funding invested in the reproductive health services of Title X, approximately seven tax-payer dollars that would have gone towards medicare and Medicaid funding will instead be saved.

What Will Change now that Planned Parenthood isn’t Supported by Title X?

Planned Parenthood represents around 13 percent of all family-planning facilities sponsored by Title X nationwide. However, these PP clinics provide service to over 41 percent of contraceptive clients. By law, Title X funding is required to prioritize low-income individuals–meaning the removal of this funding will hit the underinsured first and hardest. Sixty percent of women who received contraceptive care at a Title X supported facility claimed that the facility has been their only medical service provider for the past year.

Contraceptive awareness and pregnancy testing funded by the Title X program have also contributed to the recent drastic decrease in unwanted pregnancies and abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, public funding aided in preventing approximately 1.9 million unintended pregnancies. It’s estimated around 876,000 would have been unplanned births, and 628,600 would have resulted in abortions. Were these publicly funded reproductive healthcare options not available, “the rates of unintended pregnancies, unplanned births, and abortions in the United States would have been 67% higher; the rates for teens would have been 102% higher.”

Under Trump’s new Title X rules, millions of low-income women could be left without access to birth control, cancer screenings, and other vital services.



This isn’t a partisan issue.



The American people don’t support this attack on women’s health. #NoGagRule pic.twitter.com/SIOpJxCBYl — Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) August 24, 2019

Though the goal of Title X and organizations like Planned Parenthood is to ensure all people have equal access to reproductive health care, their preventative programs contribute to decreasing the need for abortive procedures. That, however, does not mean PP is willing or should feel the need to remove the choice of receiving an abortion referral from patients who seek that course of action.

This principle is precisely why PP is under attack. Planned Parenthood can no longer accept funding from Title X under the statute’s recent Trump-administration provisions without compromising their value for providing choice to their patients. The organization will be out almost 40 million dollars worth of funding dedicated to low-income patient welfare. 22 percent of Title X patients identify as Black or African American, and 33 percent identify as Latinx or Hispanic. In comparison to demographic statistics, these numbers are disproportionately high. Historically underserved ethnic groups will be hurt by this gag rule to a far greater extent than what is fair and equal.

For the Trump administration to believe it is morally sound to put Planned Parenthood in such a position is irresponsible, especially when federal funding under Title X has not ever been used to directly fund abortive procedures. If the concern is over pressing forward either side’s political agenda, removing Planned Parenthood’s fair access to this source of federal funding actually regresses the pro-life movement. Contraceptive awareness programs supported by Title X has been proven to decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions (see above). Planned Parenthood’s abortive procedures are separate from its receipt of Title X funds–therefore, it is purely a play to hurt Planned Parenthood’s productivity.

McGill Johnson, PP’s CEO, has predicted wait-times will increase and some states will experience a hit harder than others. One example of this is that for Utahans, who are dependent on Title X, Planned Parenthood was the only entity to receive Title X funding in that entire state. Patients will need to travel hundreds of miles to a nearby state with Title X protection in a non-Planned Parenthood facility to get the same, non-abortion-centric treatment they would have if PP were still covered in funding.

Planned Parenthood has not overstepped the boundary of the law. Title X federal funding has never been used for abortion. To push one’s political agenda in the way of productivity, health security, and access equity at the direct disadvantage of already underserved members of minority groups is not in the best interest of America’s future. The “gag rule” cannot continue.

Advertisements

Share this: Facebook

Twitter



Leave this field empty if you're human: