Family planning clinics lose Title X funding over statements supporting DEI

John Yang:

For more than 50 years, millions of dollars in federal grants known as Title X, have funded clinics that offer free or discounted family planning services to mostly low income Americans.

In April, the Trump administration froze more than $65 million in grants, forcing some providers to shut their doors. Ali Rogin spoke with Brittni Frederiksen, the associate director of women's health at the health policy nonprofit KFF.

Ali Rogin:

Thank you so much for joining us. Tell us first about what sort of providers get these funds and what types of services do they provide?

Brittni Frederiksen, Associate Director of Women's Health, KFF: Title X is the only federal program dedicated to providing family planning services to low income and uninsured individuals. We're talking about birth control methods, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, pregnancy testing, cancer screenings like Pap smears and breast exams and other preventive services.

Ali Rogin:

We know so far that 16 out of 86 Title X grantees have received notices that they are losing their funding. Why did the administration target some of these clinics and not others?

Brittni Frederiksen:

You know, it's really hard to tell. Of the 16 grantees, it includes all nine of the planned Parenthood grantees in the network and then seven other nonprofit grantees. And in the letters, they cited things like diversity, equity and inclusion violations. And it had nothing to do with their grant applications. But they cited public documents or websites, public facing job postings that said these organizations were either opposing racism or dedicated to advancing health equity.

Ali Rogin:

And so what does this mean for the patients who receive care at these clinics? Are there other places that they can seek out these services?

Brittni Frederiksen:

For many Title 10 clinics, this is their only care provider. The benefit of the Title X program is that it provides free and low cost family planning services to these individuals, which is difficult to find in other clinics. And so these clients may have to pay out of pocket for their birth control or just may not be able to afford care.

Ali Rogin:

Where will these cuts be felt the hardest in terms of who's going to be affected?

Brittni Frederiksen:

Right now, 23 states are affected, so it's pretty wide reaching. But the Southeast U.S. Was hit hardest, particularly red states. Currently, Mississippi and Missouri have no Title X funding because of these withheld funds.

Ali Rogin:

And what about these states? Are they equipped to fill these health care needs in other ways?

Brittni Frederiksen:

These tend to be states that reproductive health is not a priority for them. And so clients will have to figure out another way to find care. They could go to health centers that also provide free and reduced cost care. But many health centers also receive Title X funding. And so it is a challenge when this isn't available to these individuals.

Ali Rogin:

Knowing what we know about the Trump administration's efforts here, do we expect this to be the last in their efforts to restrict Title X funding, or do you think there's going to be more to come?

Brittni Frederiksen:

I think this is definitely just the beginning. I think these grantees did anticipate that the Trump administration would change the Title X regulations. In the first Trump administration, they changed the Title X regulations. To exclude any clinic that had co located abortion services or provided abortion referrals and 1,000 clinics could no longer qualify to participate in the program.

And so in Project 2025 they have proposed to reinstate those regulations. The other thing is there was a pre decisional budget released and the Office of Population Affairs that administers Title X funds was on a list of programs to be eliminated. And so it remains to be seen what will happen to the program.

Ali Rogin:

Brittni Frederiksen, Associate Director of Women's Health at KFF, thank you so for being here.

Brittni Frederiksen:

Thank you Ali.