Home Economy Government Title X funding freeze puts access to family planning at risk for...

Title X funding freeze puts access to family planning at risk for thousands of Rhode Islanders

By

Katie Castellani

-

04/15/2025

THOUSANDS OF Rhode Islanders’ access to family and reproductive health care is in question after the Trump administration froze Title X funding.

PROVIDENCE – Access to family and reproductive health care for thousands of Rhode Islanders is in question after the Trump administration froze Title X funding. On March 31, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England received a notice from the Trump administration that $1.89 million in Title X funding would be temporarily withheld beginning April 1.

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PROVIDENCE – Access to family and reproductive health care for thousands of Rhode Islanders is in question after the Trump administration froze Title X funding. On March 31, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England received a notice from the Trump administration that $1.89 million in Title X funding would be temporarily withheld beginning April 1. Title X is a federal program that offers funding for family planning and reproductive health services for those with low incomes or who lack health insurance. More than 7,000 patients in Rhode Island receive care from the organization through the Title X program each year. The local organization said it was one of nine Planned Parenthood affiliates to receive the notice. A total of 16 Title X providers have had funding withheld, Politico reported. The notice cited the clinics’ mission statements and other public information as potential violations of civil rights law and President Trump’s executive orders, including barring promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion as well as ‘taxpayer subsidization of open borders,’ Politico reported. These materials "paint a picture of Planned Parenthood that suggests it is engaged, across its affiliates, in widespread practices across hiring, operations, and patient treatment that unavoidably employ race in a negative manner," said Amy Margolis, the deputy director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs, which provides grants for the program. Specifically, the letter points to the clinics’ “commitment to black communities” as evidence of their noncompliance and criticized groups for serving undocumented immigrants. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has given clinics 10 days to provide evidence that it complies with the program, but Planned Parenthood has asked for an extension, said Gretchen Raffa, chief policy and advocacy officer for Planned Parenthood Votes! Rhode Island. “The Trump administration and Elon Musk are using patients as political pawns to “defund” Planned Parenthood, which will only worsen the public health crisis that they created,” Raffa added in a statement Tuesday, noting that there are congressional budget proposals that put health care programs and care of those who rely on Medicaid at risk. “We won’t let them do this without a fight.” Raffa said the organization is assessing “all options” to get the funding back and they responded to the HHS' letter last week. On April 9, dozens of U.S. senators, including Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, sent a letter urging Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reinstate the funding. In 2023, Title X supported care for 2.8 million patients at more than 3,800 health centers across the U.S., according to the letter. Also, senators referenced a 2024 report for the HHS Office of Population Affairs, which found that there is “significant need for publicly funded programs to provide free or subsidized sexual and reproductive health [SRH] services.” On April 3, more than 160 U.S. House members – including U.S. Reps. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., and Gabe Amo, D-RI, – signed a letter to Kennedy asking for the Title X funds to be restored and to “coordinate an urgent meeting on the matter.” The letter also criticizes claims that the funding is frozen because it might support diversity equity and inclusion efforts. “A federal program’s ability to provide care to people from historically marginalized and underserved communities does not make it wrong or illegal,” the representatives said. “To suggest otherwise implies that HHS would determine who is worthy of taxpayer dollars based on the color of their skin.” Federal lawmakers in both chambers have also introduced the “Expanding Access to Family Planning Act,” which would provide protections for Title X, including a guarantee $512 million of annual funding for the program for 10 years. In 2019, the Trump administration also implemented rules that prohibited Title X providers from referring patients for abortion services or discussing it as an option. This prompted many Planned Parenthood health centers and other organizations to withdraw from the Title X program. Former President Joseph Biden wrote new Title X rules in 2021 that essentially reversed Trump's changes. A representative for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to PBN's request for comment. Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.