More than 150 Home Democrats signed a letter despatched to U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies (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 providers.
The letter, shared completely with TIME, comes after HHS confirmed this week that it’s withholding Title X funds from 16 organizations “pending an analysis of doable violations” of federal civil rights legal guidelines and President Donald Trump’s Govt 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 every year allocates thousands and thousands of {dollars} for clinics that present contraception, most cancers screenings, STI testing, and different well being care providers for folks from low-income households. HHS didn’t reply to TIME’s questions earlier this week in regards to the particulars of the “doable violations,” how a lot cash was being withheld from the affected organizations, and which organizations have been being hit by the funding freeze. It additionally didn’t reply to an extra request for remark in the present day, April 3.
Greater than $200 million is allotted for Title X yearly. On March 25, the Wall Avenue Journal reported that HHS was contemplating freezing $27.5 million of these Title X funds. One of many largest Title X suppliers, Deliberate Parenthood, mentioned on March 31 that 9 of its associates have been knowledgeable by the federal authorities that their Title X funding was being withheld as of April 1.
Learn Extra: Trump Administration Freezes Vital 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 mentioned 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 regulation 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 mentioned. “These facilities supply care to populations that usually face extreme structural and systemic boundaries 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 might not have entry to care.”
In accordance with the letter, Title X-funded clinics offered providers to 2.8 million folks in 2023. In 2016, 60% of the ladies who acquired contraception from a clinic collaborating within the Title X program revealed that that was their solely supply of well being care the yr 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 providers saves $7 in Medicaid-related bills.
Reproductive rights consultants have known as the freeze “completely devastating,” saying that Title X permits many individuals to entry essential well being care providers they might not in any other case be capable to afford. Specialists on the Guttmacher Institute estimated that between 600,000 and 1.25 million folks could possibly be affected by the freeze yearly.
Within the letter, the signatories additionally mentioned they have been “outraged that reviews counsel that this funding is being frozen due to claims that it would help ‘range, fairness, and inclusion.’”
Important Entry Well being, which distributes Title X funds to well being care facilities in California and Hawaii, mentioned in a press launch on April 1 that it was knowledgeable that its Title X funds have been being quickly withheld pending “an inquiry concerning compliance with federal coverage and practices associated to civil rights and Govt Orders centered on DEI actions.” Trump signed an Govt Order on his first day in workplace that was geared toward dismantling DEI initiatives.
“That is one other means of claiming that this program is used to assist folks of coloration entry care,” the letter mentioned. “Almost half of the folks served every year by Title X are folks of coloration, the overwhelming majority are folks with low-incomes and most Title X customers are ladies. A federal program’s skill to offer care to folks 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, neighborhood leaders, and sufferers who can communicate to the significance of the federal program.
“We hope your company is not going to 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 mentioned.
