Last month, the Trump administration proposed new rules for Title X to prevent clinics like Planned Parenthood, which provide abortions in addition to family planning services, from participating in the program.
This change would cut off access to basic care for millions of low-income people. Planned Parenthood centers serve 41 percent of the patients who get care through Title X, and in many counties, they are the only Title X provider.
Since 1970, Title X has ensured access to basic preventive care regardless of income or insurance status. This includes pregnancy tests, birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
The program has had bipartisan support for decades because it is so successful — we are currently at a 30-year low for unintended pregnancies, largely because of access to these services. For four in 10 women, their visit to a family planning clinic is the only health care they receive annually.
Title X centers have remained critical partners in meeting this need, even after the expansion of health care coverage (as we have seen here in Massachusetts). Excluding clinics like Planned Parenthood that provide abortion in addition to Title X-funded services will mean that many people, especially in states that chose not to expand Medicaid, will no longer have access to preventive care.
Almost two-thirds of Title X patients have incomes at or below the federal poverty level; 43 percent have no health insurance at all. This is who will be most harmed by the administration’s latest proposal to roll back basic health care for underserved communities.
Mia Kim Sullivan
Amherst