More than 150 Home Democrats signed a letter despatched to U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on April 3, calling for the division to undo the freeze on thousands and thousands of {dollars} allotted for household planning companies.
The letter, shared solely with TIME, comes after HHS confirmed this week that it’s withholding Title X funds from 16 organizations “pending an analysis of potential violations” of federal civil rights legal guidelines and President Donald Trump’s Executive Order declaring that undocumented immigrants are barred “from acquiring most taxpayer-funded advantages.” Title X is the nation’s solely federally funded program devoted solely to household planning, and annually allocates thousands and thousands of {dollars} for clinics that present contraception, most cancers screenings, STI testing, and different well being care companies for individuals from low-income households. HHS didn’t reply to TIME’s questions earlier this week concerning the particulars of the “potential violations,” how a lot cash was being withheld from the affected organizations, and which organizations had been being hit by the funding freeze. It additionally didn’t reply to an additional request for remark right this moment, April 3.
Greater than $200 million is allocated for Title X yearly. On March 25, the Wall Street Journal reported that HHS was contemplating freezing $27.5 million of these Title X funds. One of many largest Title X suppliers, Deliberate Parenthood, said on March 31 that 9 of its associates had been knowledgeable by the federal authorities that their Title X funding was being withheld as of April 1.
Learn Extra: Trump Administration Freezes Critical Title X Funding for 16 Organizations
The letter despatched to Kennedy on April 3 was an effort led by seven Home Democrats: Rep. Judy Chu, California; Rep. Diana DeGette, Colorado; Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts; Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, New Mexico; Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, Texas; Rep. Sharice Davids, Kansas; and Rep. Nikema Williams, Georgia. The 162 Home Democrats who signed it stated within the letter that Title X has been “a cornerstone of safety-net care” for many years.
“Championed by then-Congressman George H.W. Bush and signed into legislation by President Nixon, Title X permits a various community of suppliers to ship high-quality care to low-income, uninsured, or underinsured people confidentially,” the letter stated. “These facilities provide care to populations that usually face extreme structural and systemic limitations to accessing high quality well being care, together with people with no or inadequate insurance coverage and rural and underserved communities. Freezing funds for this important program will hurt communities that in any other case could not have entry to care.”
In accordance with the letter, Title X-funded clinics supplied companies to 2.8 million individuals in 2023. In 2016, 60% of the ladies who acquired contraception from a clinic taking part within the Title X program revealed that that was their solely supply of well being care the 12 months earlier than, in accordance with the letter. The letter additionally cited a report from the Guttmacher Institute, which researches and helps sexual and reproductive well being and rights, that discovered that each greenback spent on Title X companies saves $7 in Medicaid-related bills.
Reproductive rights specialists have called the freeze “completely devastating,” saying that Title X permits many individuals to entry important well being care companies they could not in any other case be capable of afford. Consultants on the Guttmacher Institute estimated that between 600,000 and 1.25 million individuals could possibly be affected by the freeze yearly.
Within the letter, the signatories additionally stated they had been “outraged that experiences counsel that this funding is being frozen due to claims that it would assist ‘range, fairness, and inclusion.’”
Essential Access Health, which distributes Title X funds to well being care facilities in California and Hawaii, stated in a press launch on April 1 that it was knowledgeable that its Title X funds had been being quickly withheld pending “an inquiry concerning compliance with federal coverage and practices associated to civil rights and Government Orders targeted on DEI actions.” Trump signed an Executive Order on his first day in workplace that was aimed toward dismantling DEI initiatives.
“That is one other means of claiming that this program is used to assist individuals of shade entry care,” the letter stated. “Practically half of the individuals served annually by Title X are individuals of shade, the overwhelming majority are individuals with low-incomes and most Title X customers are girls. A federal program’s capability to offer care to individuals from traditionally marginalized and underserved communities doesn’t make it unsuitable or unlawful. To counsel in any other case implies that HHS would decide who’s worthy of taxpayer {dollars} primarily based on the colour of their pores and skin.”
Home Democrats who signed the letter urged Kennedy to revive all of the Title X funding to the affected organizations, requesting a “immediate reply to coordinate a gathering on this matter” and providing to introduce Kennedy to suppliers, group leaders, and sufferers who can converse to the significance of the federal program.
“We hope your company won’t be so reckless as to upend practically half a century of bipartisan achievement and place Title X on the [Department of Government Efficiency] chopping block with out listening to firsthand the implications of that motion,” the letter stated.
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