Trump administration pauses some family planning grants as it
investigates compliance with laws
[April 02, 2025]
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
The federal government has paused $27.5 million for organizations that
provide family planning, contraception, cancer screenings and sexually
transmitted infection services as it investigates whether they're
complying with the law.
The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association says 16
organizations received notice Monday that funding is on hold. At least
11 Planned Parenthood Federation of America regional affiliates and all
recipients of federal family planning, or Title X, grants in seven
states, had funding withheld.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declined to say which
laws or executive orders the groups are being investigated for
violating, though NFPFHA said some of the letters cited civil rights
laws. Trump has issued executive orders targeting programs that consider
race in any way, some of which have been put on hold by judges.
Health and Human Services, which is in the midst of deep layoffs, also
said that “no final decisions on any spending changes for Planned
Parenthood have been made.”
Republicans have long railed against the millions of dollars that flow
every year to Planned Parenthood and its clinics, which offer abortions
but also birth control, cancer and disease screenings, among other
things. Federal law prohibits taxpayer dollars from paying for most
abortions.
Providers said the impact on health care will especially hit
lower-income people.
“We know what happens when health care providers cannot use Title X
funding,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood
Action Fund, said in a statement. “People across the country suffer,
cancers go undetected, access to birth control is severely reduced, and
the nation’s STI crisis worsens.”
The reproductive health association, whose members include most Title X
grant recipients, said that about one-fourth of them received the
letter, including all the recipients in California, Hawaii, Maine,
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and Utah. Mississippi law bans abortion
at all stages of pregnancy.
[to top of second column]
|
A Missouri and American flag fly outside Planned Parenthood in St.
Louis, June 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
 George Hill, president and CEO of
Maine Family Planning, which provides abortion services, said that
if necessary his organization would go to court to seek the funds.
“The Administration’s dangerous decision to withhold Maine Family
Planning’s Title X funds jeopardizes access to critical health care
services for thousands of Mainers. Any delay in disbursement of
federal grants will have a detrimental effect on our state family
planning network and the patients we serve," Hill said.
The Missouri Family Health Council, which pays for programs
throughout Missouri and part of Oklahoma, including Planned
Parenthood affiliates, also had its funding blocked.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which includes Missouri, Oklahoma
and Kansas, said regional clinics remain committed to providing
health care despite the funding uncertainty.
“They want to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers to appease
their anti-abortion backers, and they’re willing to take away birth
control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment to get
their way,” Great Plains Planned Parenthood President and CEO Emily
Wales said in a statement. “If blocking health care for low-income
patients is what the Trump administration means by ‘making America
great again,’ then we want no part of it.”
___
Associated Press reporters Summer Ballentine and Amanda Seitz
contributed to this article.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
