Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Planned Parenthood is leaving the federal Title X family planning program rather than comply with new Trump administration rules regarding abortion counseling.

The new rules issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year prohibit Title X grantees from providing or referring patients for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or medical emergency.  

"The Trump administration has forced Planned Parenthood grantees out of Title X," said Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood's acting president, in a conference call Monday.

She went on, "The impact of the Trump administration's gag rule will reverberate across the country."

Officials say that means patients will likely see longer wait times or increased costs for reproductive health services.

Planned Parenthood and other medical groups say the rule is unethical and interferes with the doctor-patient relationship; abortion rights opponents, meanwhile, have long argued for a complete separation between federal dollars and any organization involved in providing or facilitating abortions.

 letter submitted by Planned Parenthood last week

 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. An attorney for Planned Parenthood said the organization had hoped to remain in the program, but stop using Title X funds while the matter 

. But, the letter says, recent guidance from Health and Human Services informed grantees that they 

 the program if they could not show "good-faith efforts" to comply. The letter expresses "deep regret" but says Planned Parenthood clinics "now have no option but to withdraw from the Title X program."

Health and Human Services officials said in a statement last week that by not complying, Planned Parenthood "is actually choosing to place a higher priority on the ability to refer for abortion instead of continuing to receive federal funds to provide a broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and services to clients in need of these services."

Planned Parenthood's withdrawal from the $286 million federal program represents a significant shift in the way the family planning program operates; Planned Parenthood has been involved in the program since its inception, and officials say they serve about 40 percent of the nation's 4 million Title X recipients, who receive services such as contraception and STD screenings.

Doreen Denny, senior director of government relations for Concerned Women for America, which opposes abortion rights called the news "a day of reckoning and decision" for Planned Parenthood. 

"I think that Planned Parenthood certainly knew that they had a choice to make when they first applied for grants this round. They knew that these rules could take effect," Denny said. "So this isn't a surprise to them."

Abortion rights opponents have called on political leaders to "de-fund Planned Parenthood," and have 

 for his administration's efforts to deliver on his campaign promise to do just that.

The impact of the rule change is not limited to Planned Parenthood. Maine's sole Title X grantee, Maine Family Planning, is also withdrawing. In a letter to HHS, CEO George Hill said his group is leaving the program "more in sorrow than in anger."

Emily Nestler is an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Maine Family Planning in its own legal challenge to the Trump administration rules. She said the move could force as many as 15 clinics to close in the largely rural state of Maine.

"Today is the tipping point. I think and you're going to really see the unwinding of a program that has provided extraordinary care and been a huge success for decades," Nestler said in an interview with NPR.

Anti-abortion advocates say they hope the changes to the Title X program will open up 

, including religiously-based organizations and crisis pregnancy centers that counsel women against abortions. Some of those groups do not provide a full range of contraceptive services.

Paul Stark, spokesperson for the anti-abortion group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, said the new rule “simply ensures that [the funding] goes to places that are involved in family planning without abortion, which is the original intention of the Title X program, not to support abortion in any way, but to support family planning and related services for low-income women.”

Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips, who represents Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, said in a statement on Monday that he continues “to be appalled by the Trump administration’s assault on the health care of Minnesotans.” 

He said that more than 6,000 people in his district “now risk being denied access to critical health care needs.”

Rep. Betty McCollum, of the 4th District, also criticized the Trump administration over the rule change that prompted the decision. 

“Planned Parenthood’s decision to reject Title X funding with President Trump’s political strings attached is the right thing to do in the short term,” she said. “Health providers like Planned Parenthood should never be forced to compromise their commitment to delivering quality patient care essential to women in need of comprehensive reproductive health care.”

None of Minnesota’s GOP members of Congress issued statements on Planned Parenthood’s decision as of Monday afternoon.

Politics and Government News

Social Issues

MPR News Staff

Author

Sarah McCammon

The organization says it is leaving the federal family planning program because of rule changes under the Trump administration.

Planned Parenthood out of Title X over Trump rule

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox