Trump administration to freeze Planned Parenthood’s funding
Reproductive health provider Planned Parenthood said on Monday the Trump administration would cut federal family planning funding as of Tuesday, affecting birth control, cancer screenings and other services for low-income people.
Planned Parenthood said that nine of its affiliates received notice that funding would be withheld under a program known as Title X, which has supported healthcare services for the poor since 1970. The Wall Street Journal reported last week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) planned an immediate freeze of $27.5 million in family planning grants for groups including Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood says more than 300 health centers are in the Title X network and Title X-funded centers received more than 1.5 million visits in 2023. It did not say how much funding would be halted by the Trump administration.
HHS said in a statement it was withholding Title X payments to 16 organizations while it evaluates possible violations of their grant terms, including possibly of federal civil rights law and an executive order issued by President Donald Trump entitled, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders.”
“HHS is conducting this evaluation to ensure these entities are in full compliance with Federal law and applicable grant terms, and to ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars,” the statement said.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, predicted that cancers would go undetected, access to birth control would be severely reduced, and sexually-transmitted infections would increase as a result.
“President Trump and Elon Musk are pushing their dangerous political agenda, stripping health care access from people nationwide, and not giving a second thought to the devastation they will cause,” McGill Johnson said in a statement.
Trump has named billionaire Musk, who helped the president get elected, to head up an initiative to target government agencies for spending cuts.
Conservatives have long sought to defund Planned Parenthood because it also provides abortions. However, U.S. government funding for nearly all abortions has been banned since 1977.
—Daniel Trotta, Reuters