The Great Lie about Women's Health
There is a story which hasn't received much attention. That is the President's vanquishing of the all powerful organization known as Planned Parenthood! There is a regulation issued by the Department of Health and Human Services that will prohibit family planning clinics that receive funding under Title X from providing privately funded abortions or referring patients to abortion services.
Title X:
"Established in 1970, Title X is the only federal statute that issues grants to clinics that provide family planning and health services to low-income and uninsured people who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford such services.
Approximately $286 million in Title X grants are administered to health centers and family planning clinics, such as Planned Parenthood, through the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) each year.
According to an April 2018 report from the Congressional Research Service, 4 million people received services funded by Title X in 2016. There are 4,000 Title X-funded health centers throughout the country, with Planned Parenthood serving approximately 41% of Title X patients."
https://news.yahoo.com/planned-parenthood-just-forfeited-60-192500046.html
At first Planned Parenthood went the usual liberal route of seeking a friendly Judge to aid in obstructing this President. The request was directed at the Ninth Circuit Court in order to grant an injunction to block the policy while it and other healthcare organizations appealed the court’s earlier decision to allow the administration’s new policy to move forward. The Court would not grant Planned Parenthood's request to temporarily block the rule from going into effect, but could issue another ruling next month.
Therefore Planned Parenthood decided to forfeit the $60 million in federal funding rather than comply with a regulation issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Planned Parenthood chose to withdraw if it couldn’t do abortions. So much for the phony claim they are only interested in women’s health.
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The mission of Planned Parenthood is:
to provide comprehensive reproductive and complementary health care services in settings which preserve and protect the essential privacy and rights of each individual;
to advocate public policies which guarantee these rights and ensure access to such services;
to provide educational programs which enhance understanding of individual and societal implications of human sexuality;
to promote research and the advancement of technology in reproductive health care and encourage understanding of their inherent bioethical, behavioral, and social implications.
You mean their mission statement doesn't include being the number one provider of abortions in America?
Yup, that is the mission otherwise they would have taken the money to provide all those nice services mentioned in that lovely mission statement
That's never been their mission, it's just the outcome of the effect that some poorly educated religious conservatives that have squeezed clinics who offer legal abortion services into near extinction has had on them. Simply because they have a religious majority in their State that doesn't give a damn about the establishment clause, they effectively force their religious views on ever person in their State by add ridiculous additional requirements to clinics that offer legal abortions with the intent to make it so they can't comply and will have to close down.
If you don't want an abortion, don't get an abortion. It should be that simple, your input ends there. Let others get access to blood transfusions even though JW's disagree, let others get access to hospitals and emergency care even though Christian Scientists disagree, and fricking let Americans access legal abortion services even if a whole bunch of tooth gnashing religious conservatives disagree.
Well, I am a male, so …….yeah.
Abortion is still legal, and people can get them if they choose to do so.
PP is planning on still providing abortions at all the clinics they already provide them in, aren't they?
And some 60% of all abortions are performed at a place other than PP, so there are all those places to get one, too.
This rule does absolutely nothing to stop anyone from providing abortions.
All the hyperbole and BS aside.
Not when the religious fanatics are shutting down clinics all over the place, and passing laws that make it incredibly difficult to get an abortion. And yes, it IS still legal, but these nutcases don't care about that. There are six states which have only one abortion clinic ... too bad those legislators don't get fired instantly for what they're doing. Too bad also that most of them are men, so I can't wish unwanted pregnancies on them.
So my statement that abortion is still legal, and people can get them if they choose to, is correct.
Glad to see we can agree!
[Removed]
Obviously many people can NOT get them if they choose to, in states which are throwing up multiple roadblocks.
Not that you give a shit about women's health anyway.
That is laughable, and clearly a falsehood.
Legal in all 50 states. Try again to make something resembling sense and truth.
A very sill assumption on your part. Not everyone who isn't a cheerleader for PP is someone against PP providing services for folks. What I don't get is why PP would choose to refuse service to some 4 million just so they can advertise for what they have always claimed is such a small part of their business.
Hmmm...….provide health services for some 4 million, or abortions for some 350,00-400,000. Oh, what to do, what to do?
Ice skating is legal in all 50 States, how close are you to the nearest ice rink?
If you make something so inaccessible it doesn't really matter if its legal or not to the majority of people who don't have the financial means to travel long distances. The wealthy will still get their abortions, they won't be effected one bit. I mean, a minor inconvenience of a short flight to a non-insane State and a short flight home, no problem. But that's not an option for millions of low income women facing one of the most difficult decisions in their life, all because some other nosey religious conservative decided they just had to force their personal and/or religious opinions into all women's health care decisions.
About 70 miles or so. Which has nothing to do with anything under discussion.
It isn't my job to make sure everyone has equal access to all things at all times, and it is sheer foolishness to expect that to ever happen.
You want to pay for yourself or someone else to get an abortion, go for it! More power to ya! Have or pay for any and all you want or can afford.
That's obvious. Equal rights are not something you're big on, for groups you disapprove of. Jesus would wholeheartedly approve of that attitude, don't ya think?
So, someone is hundreds of miles away - maybe has to go one time to get an invasive, unnecessary ultrasound, then has to go back days later. No biggie to you, right?
Oh, and there is a real chance that some of these six states will have ZERO abortion clinics before long - all because of these right wing religious fanatics who say to hell with if it's legal, we'll block people from having the rights they're legally entitled to.
It's a shame that the people who are anti equal-rights don't end up getting pregnant, or becoming gay, or having their skin turn a different color. Once it impacted them, suddenly they might care.
Something I am not big on?
If you are going to tell me what I am for, why bother addressing me at all? And Jesus doesn't have anything to do with this--separation of church and state, don't ya know that by now?
People are inconvenienced all the freaking tme. No need to go apeshit crazy over it. My wife had to have a certain drug administered to her, and for years we had to drive 90 miles to the nearest facility that could do it. I certainly never got all twisted up over it.
You seem to be letting your hatred for religion cloud your thinking, which makes your comment about Jesus all the more strange.
Aren't you one of those who was siding with the baker?
Funny, I've always been told that Christians try to emulate Jesus. Thanks for confirming that's not true.
And you were fortunate to be able to do that. Some of these people have to drive hundreds of miles each way while trying to keep their jobs. Again, nice sense of compassion.
I don't hate religion. What I do hate is when religious people act like hypocrites, claiming they're all about Jesus while acting the exact opposite of how Jesus would want them to.
Was I? Or are you just badly guessing again?
I neither confirmed nor denied it. You imagine whatever sets your heart aquivering.
What I have always heard is that there is a separation of church and state in America. Maybe you learned differently.
Yeah, we made it a priority and figured out how we could manage to do it. Like adults often do.
That MIGHT have been believable had you not been posting what you have. Now, nope, not so much!
Why can't you just answer the fucking question?
True. Can you imagine their outrage if a blue state closed all gun stores but one? "Women's health? Meh. Guns? There should be one on every corner!!!!!!!"
The point here is that Planned Parenthood is revealing itself to be in the business of abortion, not health care! The organization had a great run. They were an abortion advocacy group that received generous funding (though not for abortion in most states), through democratic & Republican administrations they thrived. Then along came Donald Trump!
If and when I ever decide that it is something you need to know, you'll be the very first person I tell!
And what, exactly, is wrong with that mission? Seems like anyone with more than half a brain would be supporting such a mission statement.
He merely copied it. He didn't say anything was wrong with it.
Do you think there is something wrong with it that you think others would have a problem with it?
Do they really believe in it, when they turn away money because they can't recommend abortion? I say they care less about women's health than they do abortion.
The point of the article.
He seeded an anti-Planned Parenthood article that is literally cheering the fact that up to 4 million poor Americans will likely lose access to family planning and health services.
"the President's vanquishing of the all powerful organization known as Planned Parenthood!"
Am I to assume he disagrees with the seed but agrees with the PP mission statement? I'm just saying I agree with the mission statement and wonder what anyone might have against it.
It is just YOUR perception that it is an anti-PP article--probably because it tells the truth.
If PP CHOOSES to stop servicing 4 million people, well, that is ALL on PP, so you should take it up with PP. It is THEIR choice.
I believe he made his point--showing what PP's mission claims to be and what their actual actions are.
I'm real sorry if that doesn't gel with the pablum you have consumed over PP.
No, we should take it up with that asshole Trump, who pandered to his fundie misogynist base to do everything in their power to kill funding for PP, which provides a LEGAL service with NO taxpayer dollars. But that wasn't enough for the assholes.
You can think whatever you want about abortion, but it is legal, it's a woman's right, and these assholes should be ashamed of themselves. I'm sure they will have no interest in caring for the babies that will be born, and they won't give a crap about the women who die. All they care about is embryos and zygotes.
PP CHOSE to not meet the requirements for funding. That is completely within their rights to do so, but it is silly to whine about THEIR choice.
Why, how nice of you to grant me permission to make my own mind up.
I have NEVER claimed that abortion isn't legal. I am not personally opposed to abortion, I just find it rather silly in this day and age for so many to resort to it as a means of "contraception" after the fact when so many forms are safely and legally available almost everywhere. I don't want yahoos who can't even figure out how to avoid becoming pregnant or impregnating someone to have kids they are incapable or unwilling to support.
"There is a story which hasn't received much attention. That is the President's vanquishing of the all powerful organization known as Planned Parenthood!"
How is that "not" an anti-Planned Parenthood article?
As far as I could tell, it did not tell any lies, it just was excited about taking away the health care of 4 million low-income and uninsured people who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford such services.
So PP should just continue to serve 4 million Americans who can't afford their services? Do you expect all the doctors to work for free? Title X was the vehicle by which those 4 million Americans were able to go to Planned Parenthood without insurance and without the ability to pay because there was a need. Those patients won't magically not need health services when you take away their option to go to Planned Parenthood, we'll just see that move over to hospital emergency care and EMTALA which increases the cost of health care for everyone else.
They are following through with their mission statement every day. They live up to their words unlike so many lying conservatives who use hate and fear along with deceit to confuse their gullible followers to attack their enemies even when its not in their best interest.
I know the truth about Planned Parenthood, that is all. My wife and I used them frequently early in our marriage when I was between jobs and my wife needed access to lower cost birth control and her annual health checks. They are an incredible resource to millions of Americans and it makes zero sense to let brain washed religious conservatives force their religious opinions on everyone else in our secular society. This is not a theocracy so get religion the fart out of other peoples health care decisions and access to legal abortions services.
They can do whatever they wish within the rules. Wouldn't that be a decision for PP to make?
No, I suspect that doctors willing to work at PP will expect some type of compensation. Title X funding is clearly available should PP choose to comply with a few simple rules. Seems as if the need is that great, then PP would accommodate that need IF that is their true purpose.
No one is taking any option away from those folks, least of all me, unless you count PP as taking that option away because it decided that referring clients for abortions is more important than providing healthcare for those 4 million folks.
Your over-the-top rhetoric is duly noted. The sky is NOT falling.
Seriously? If they would just follow a "few simple rules"? Like give up performing any private funded abortion and never tell any women its a legal available option? Are you even listening to yourself? "We can leave abortion legal as long as no one ever performs an abortion and you never tell anyone its available...".
As a heart attack.
Yes, you seem to have grasped exactly what I stated.
If that is the rule, and other places are willing and capable of doing it, why not?
Who are you quoting? I dn't see anyone here making that statement. Perhaps you would be better served directing that part of your comment to whomever you are quoting.
I was paraphrasing all of the frustratingly ignorant anti-abortion opinions I've been reading here. If you're unable to see any likeness perhaps it's because you're trying to view it from inside the Trojan horse of anti-abortion lies.
Really? Please, give me some examples of these things you have read here. Just a couple of post numbers will suffice.
Or did you make it up?
Sometimes silence IS the answer, especially when there is no good option.
Abortions are an essential part of women's health, to have that choice.
That decision should be between a woman and her doctor. No one else.
Agreed. Taxpayer dollars should not be involved.
And they aren't.
It is a choice after all and we don't want to pay for it.
Thank you Mr President!
Taxpayer dollars are not involved in abortion.
Title X:
"Established in 1970, Title X is the only federal statute that issues grants to clinics that provide family planning and health services to low-income and uninsured people who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford such services.
Approximately $286 million in Title X grants are administered to health centers and family planning clinics, such as Planned Parenthood, through the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) each year.
According to an April 2018 report from the Congressional Research Service, 4 million people received services funded by Title X in 2016. There are 4,000 Title X-funded health centers throughout the country, with Planned Parenthood serving approximately 41% of Title X patients."
They're not used regarding abortion. They're used as stated above.
If that's the case, why can't they comply and receive funding?
They aren't. Try getting news from real sources and you'd know that.
The new rule removes the requirement that providers counsel pregnant people on abortion as an option, and only permits doctors to make referrals to abortion services if the patient has already made up their mind to terminate the pregnancy.
It's fairly straightforward
So, they are complying and should receive funding? Why would there be an issue with the rule? Why did they need to go to court over the rule? Why did they forfeit the funding?
Planned Parenthood officially announced on August 19 they will not comply with the rule and now stand to lose $60 million in Title X funding as a result. As The New York Times noted, however, they still receive about $500 million from Medicaid, the federal program that helps provide healthcare for low-income individuals.
"Trump's gag rule is destroying the nation's decades-old program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care. While the Trump administration may have given up on you, we NEVER will — we're doing everything we can to make sure patients don't lose care," Planned Parenthood Action tweeted, calling the rule "absolutely devastating."
Services Title X subsidizes
The main services funded by Title X grants are wellness exams, cervical and breast cancer screenings, birth control, contraception education, STI testing and treatment, and family planning counseling. A 2016 OPA report estimates that Title X funding allowed clinics to provide 700,000 pap smears, four million STD tests, and a million breast cancer screenings.
While Title X funding can pay for counseling in which patients are educated and informed about abortion, it cannot directly pay for abortion procedures. The Hyde Amendment of 1976 expressly prohibits any federal programs, including Title X and Medicaid, from funding an abortion procedure except in rare cases where pregnancy would endanger the life of a pregnant person.
According to a memo released by HHS in May 2018, the new policy will bar clinics that provide abortions along with other family planning services from receiving any Title X funding at all, even though none of that funding directly goes toward abortions services.
Additionally, doctors at clinics that receive Title X funds but do not provide abortions would be largely prohibited from referring patients to clinics that do provide abortions.
The new rule removes the requirement that providers counsel pregnant people on abortion as an option, and only permits doctors to make referrals to abortion services if the patient has already made up their mind to terminate the pregnancy.
Read more: Rep. Steve King questioned whether there would be 'any population left' without pregnancies from rape and incest
HHS is making more Title X grants available for faith-based and other clinics like Obria, that offer counseling for "natural" forms of family planning like the rhythm method but do not prescribe hormonal birth control.
Tweet Embed:
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Trump: forcing expert health care providers out of the Title X, the nation's program for affordable birth control
Also Trump: gives that funding to groups that DON'T EVEN OFFER birth control ⬇️
Because they won't follow ridiculous conservative fascist mandates that force them not to mention abortion as an option.
"will prohibit family planning clinics that receive funding under Title X from providing privately funded abortions or referring patients to abortion services."
So no tax dollars are being spent on abortions, but stick up the ass conservatives who want to force their religious ideology on everyone don't want the money to go to PP because they provide "privately funded abortions" and won't stop telling patients all their available legal options.
Planned Parenthood receives approximately $530 million in government funding such as Medicaid reimbursements. The rule is that they aren't supposed to use the money for abortions. So, what other organization specializing in "female health" receives that kind of funding?
They are all too good at mentioning the "option"!
They never were...ever hear of the HYDE amendment....please do some research.
They might as well flush the money down the toilet than to provide money towards faith based organizations who advocate the rhythm method.
What do you imagine goes on in there? Maniacal masked doctors using hypnosis to get young women to agree to abortions? Those who have that kind of imagination are quite the sick folks and likely need counseling.
Let me repeat this one more time, there are NO "pro-abortion" Americans in this fight. No one is forcing anyone to get an abortion or trying to convince unwilling women to get abortions. This is a lie sold by some dishonest conservatives who simply can't win the argument on any logical or reasonable basis and thus retreat to fabricating a giant straw man lie to attack.
Touche!
If that is true, then why is Planned Parenthood turning away all that money simply because they don't get to mention the "option?"
Then this IS about abortion. Thanks, that was my point.
Abstinence only and the rhythm method... anything else is God's will! /s
I guess we should be thankful all these backwards morons aren't Christian Scientists who reject all forms of health care, or JW's who have a major issue with blood transfusions and would be fighting to ban them in all hospitals and clinics.
I wonder how they'd feel if they were the one who just had a heart attack at a restaurant and everyone around them just stood there, no CPR administered, because they collectively agreed, that must be Gods will... life, death, it's all up to him, right? /s
Yup, it's all about abortion!
It would appear that they do offer contraceptives.
So, it appears that this ends co-mingling of funds.
Sorry, went straight to the source instead of biased reporting in either direction.
Planned Parenthood never made any mention of not offering contraceptives.
I was talking about the other places that DO NOT OFFER CONTRACEPTIVES where they are sending Title X funds. They only offer 'natural methods' such as the rhythm method.
Again, they should just flush the money down the toilet when it comes to those faith based 'clinics'
The source I used is not 'biased in either direction'
What was your source by the way?
the same thing can be said for tax exempt organized religions that sponsor end runs around the 1st amendment such as this one. I resent government subsidies, otherwise known as taxpayer dollars, for religious participation in a secular country by way of a tax deduction for hypocrites. I don't want to pay for it. xtian socialism.
it's nothing more than a weak attempt by religious zealots to interfere with other Americans freedom of choice by proxy. PP did the right thing. the regulation is now meaningless. freedom for all Americans will always prevail. it's an excellent example of religious persecution by the religiously challenged against others that don't share their beliefs. while the actual persecutors wail about their own perceived religious persecution...
Because being forced not to tell a woman all her legal options when family planning, being silenced by the State, is criminal. Planned Parenthood is happy that the number of abortions overall is decreasing with increased access to contraceptives. Fewer abortions is a good thing, but that shouldn't be because women are being denied access to them. With education and contraceptives I would hope to reduce the need for abortions to zero if possible, that would be a great day. I wouldn't ever want a woman to have to make that decision and go through a pregnancy termination, I'd much rather she had access to safe contraceptives and always used them and that they would be 100% effective, but that's not the world we live in. I'm not such a fool as to believe that taking away all women's choice would eliminate abortion, it would simply put more women's health at risk.
religious contradiction apparently isn't protected free speech now
The Hyde Agreement was in place LONG before trumptard was in office.
Yup, passed in 1977. There are currently 16 states who use their own state funds to pay for elective abortions and similar services. These states include Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
We've heard
You don't appear to be listening.
The easiest way for conservatives to lose power forever is to make abortion illegal again. They will drive women to the streets, activate an anti-conservative voting base, and go down the drain.
The new avatar cracks me up! John, abortion was never really illegal, was it?
This does nothing to make abortion illegal.
This doesn't stop PP from performing abortions.
This drives no one to the streets.
Get real.
"Ever since Roe was decided in 1973, state legislatures have been chipping away at abortion access, passing more than 1,100 restrictions. They include waiting periods, anti-abortion counseling mandates, bans on the types of procedure used, and forced ultrasounds. And then there are the TRAP laws — Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers — that require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals or require clinics that provide safe, outpatient care to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers.
The TRAP requirements are difficult — in some cases impossible — to meet. Many hospitals simply won’t provide admitting privileges to doctors who perform abortions due to anti-abortion bias and stigma. Others require doctors to admit a certain number of patients at the hospital each year, but because abortion is such a safe procedure, abortion providers can’t meet that threshold.
Ambulatory surgical centers are far more complex and expensive than what is necessary to provide a safe abortion, and no other comparable medical procedure is subject to such requirements."
That's real. Stop acting like it's not happening when it's all too obvious what some sniveling deceitful religious conservatives have been doing. They do everything in their power to force their religious beliefs on others in an attempt to prevent them from accessing legal health services and it really is sickening. They pretend to care about the kidney bean sized zygotes but don't give a damn about the health of the mothers or the children that are born unwanted and to women who have no means to care for themselves let alone a child.
All while having their mistresses receive abortions at a 'private clinic'
Look, personally, I don't give a damn what PP does.
Supply services, don't supply services.
Accept govt. money, don't accept govt. money.
Follow the rules, don't follow the rules.
Makes me no never mind, as I don't run their organization.
Simple fact is that PP CHOSE to not accept any more govt. money. I respect THEIR decision. It is THEIRS to make--not yours or mine.
I find it a little hard to swallow that PP is ALL about women's health when they simply refuse to do one very simple thing that costs them absolutely nothing. That is my opinion, and I don't really care if anyone else agrees with it or not.
They were, just fine for years, until some who believe their opinion should override individual freedoms and the law and they change the law such that Planned Parenthood no longer qualifies unless it gives up performing privately funded abortions or ever mentioning that abortion is legal.
What the &^%& are you talking about? The only way that Planned Parenthood WOULDN'T be all for women's health is if they were restricted by government mandate not to tell women ALL their legal health options. You're saying basically "I find it a little hard to swallow that PP is ALL about women's health when they simply refuse to allow religious conservatives opinions to effect the care they offer to their patients". The anti-abortionists need to get their fricking opinions out of other people health care decisions, period.
Penalizing Planned Parenthood with increased restrictions and new rules attempting to force them to comply with such ignorant opinions is beyond stupid, it should be criminal. How about we remove the tax free status on all Churches and we can give that money to help open clinics that will actually help Americans instead of hindering them from accessing legal health services.
Laws change. Rules change. Deal with it.
It doesn't shock me that you would have to ask that.
Seems like PP is expected to operate under the very same rules as others. PP as "victim" here is laughable.
if that is what you want, perhaps you should contact your reps and push for it. Taxing churches? Again, the whole separation between church and state thingy.
I applaud them, abortion is for women's health...
That seems to be the only thing for a woman's health.
Title X
The Title X Family Planning Program, officially known as Public Law 91-572 or "Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs", was enacted under President Richard Nixon in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act. Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. Title X is legally designed to prioritize the needs of low-income families or uninsured people (including those who are not eligible for Medicaid) who might not otherwise have access to these health care services. These services are provided to low-income and uninsured individuals at reduced or no cost.[1] Its overall purpose is to promote positive birth outcomes and healthy families by allowing individuals to decide the number and spacing of their children.
Title X is administered by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of Population Affairs (OPA) by the Office of Family Planning (OFP). The statute and regulations of Title X require that 90 percent of congressional appropriations be used for clinical family planning purposes. In FY2010, Congress appropriated around $317 million for the Title X Family Planning program.
Contents
History
The first federal subsidies to help low-income families with birth control came in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty program. In 1970 during the presidency of Richard Nixon, the Senate passed Title X unanimously, and the Housevoted 298 to 32 to pass the bill on to Nixon, who signed it into law. There was strong bipartisan support for Title X;[2] Nixon noted as much in a statement he made upon signing the bill.[3]
In 1972, Congress passed another bill to draw funds from each state's Medicaid program to help pay for family planning for low income families, the states to be 90% repaid by the federal government. A third bill was passed in 1975 authorizing a network of family planning centers to be built across the U.S., in 2014, some 4,400 centers were in operation. Title X and the subsequent supporting bills were funded by $2.4 billion in 2010.[2]
Mandate and administration
According to OPA, Title X operates by granting funds to a network of community-based clinics that provide contraceptive services, related counseling, and other preventive health services. Typical grantees include State and local health departments, tribal organizations, hospitals, university health centers, independent clinics, community health centers, faith-based organizations, and various public and private nonprofit entities. OPA estimates that there is at least one clinic receiving Title X funding in 75% of counties in the U.S.[4]
Ten Public Health Service Regional Offices are given the Title X funding and subsequently award regional service and training grant funds through a competitive review process. These offices also monitor program performance.[1] Planned Parenthood clinics and affiliates are granted approximately 25% of Title X funding.[5]
The services provided by Title X grantees include family planning and provision of contraception, education and counseling, breast and pelvic exams, breast and cervical cancer screening, screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), education about preventing STIs and HIV and counseling for affected patients, referrals to other health care resources, pregnancy diagnosis, and pregnancy counseling.
In addition to providing these services, Title X works to improve the overall quality of family planning services offered in the U.S. and help grantees better respond to patient needs. Title X funds training for family planning clinic staff through five national training programs that focus on clinical training; service delivery; management and systems improvement; coordination and strategic initiatives; and quality assurance/improvement and evaluation. Training also emphasizes application of the quality family planning guidelines. Title X also looks to improve the provision of family planning services by engaging in data collection and research of the program and its grantees. Finally, Title X funds also aid in disseminating information and implementing outreach and education activities in communities.
Funding
Title X is funded every fiscal year by Congressional appropriations. It received approximately $317 million in FY2010 appropriations and enacted spending. President Barack Obama's proposed budget for FY2016 would provide Title X with $327 million, which, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), would represent an increase of nearly $11 million over 2010 enacted spending.[6]
Title X receives further funding from Medicaid reimbursements and additional federal sources. Combined with Congressional appropriations, these funding sources amount to over half of the operational funds provided to Title X grantees. The remainder of the funding comes from State and local funds, in addition to private sources like insurance and some patient fees.[1]
Abortion
The Guttmacher Institute claims that, by preventing unintended pregnancies, Title X has decreased the number of abortions in the United States.[7] Since its inception, Title X has not directly provided funds for programs that use abortion as a family planning method.[2][8][9]
Title X grantees and sub-recipients must be in full compliance with Section 1008 of the Title X statute and 42 CFR 59.5(a)(5), which prohibit abortion as a method of family planning. Grantees and sub-recipients must have written policies that clearly indicate that none of the funds will be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning. Additional guidance on this topic can be found in the July 3, 2000, Federal Register Notice entitled Provision of Abortion-Related Services in Family Planning Services Projects, which is available at 65 Fed. Reg. 41281, and the final rule entitled Standards of Compliance for Abortion-Related Services in Family Planning Services Projects, which is available at 65 Fed. Reg. 41270.
Despite the broad bipartisan support for Title X in 1970, in 2011 Title X became entangled with the abortion debate, during negotiations about funding for the government's programs, as well as the proposed FY2012 budget.[2]
Abortion opponents have taken issue with Title X since 25% of all Title X money goes to Planned Parenthood affiliates, and Planned Parenthood clinics are the nation's biggest private abortion providers. Although Planned Parenthood is prohibited from using federal funds to perform abortions, abortion opponents argue that any money given to Planned Parenthood from Title X frees up more nonfederal money that can be used to perform abortions.[5] Then Representative, now Vice President Mike Pence, a Republican from Indiana, has led the charge to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X funds. House Republicans called for cuts of over $300 million from Title X for FY2011 in order to reduce the number of abortions.[10]
In June 2019, the Trump administration was allowed by a federal court of appeals to restrict taxpayer dollars given to abortion-providing facilities through Title X. The administration required that companies receiving Title X funding must perform abortions in facilities separate from those where other medical procedures are offered. The government would not provide any Title X funding to these abortion facilities. [11]
Impact
In 2006, publicly funded family planning services (Medicaid, Title X, and state funds) helped women avoid 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, thus preventing about 860,000 unintended births and 810,000 abortions.[7] Without publicly funded family planning services, the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in the United States would be nearly two-thirds higher among women overall and among teens; the number of unintended pregnancies among poor women would nearly double.[7] The services provided at publicly funded clinics saved the federal and state governments an estimated $5.1 billion in 2008 in short term medical costs.[7] Nationally, every $1.00 invested in helping women avoid unintended pregnancy saved $3.74 in Medicaid expenditures that otherwise would have been needed.[2][7]
According to President Obama's FY2012 proposed budget and the OMB, Title X provides grants to a network of over 4,500 clinics that annually serve over 5 million individuals.[6] The OPA describes their clientele as racially and ethnically diverse, with most patients in their 20s.[12] Title X mainly serves low- to middle-income women, but has stepped up its efforts to involve men in family planning efforts and the number of male clients is on the rise.[1]
In February 2011, a National Public Radio (NPR) article evaluated the impact of Title X. NPR cites a Guttmacher Institute report claiming that Title X grantee clinics serve 15% of women in the U.S. who use contraceptive prescriptions and supplies or get annual contraception check-ups. Furthermore, only five percent of patients served by Title X funding at these clinics came in solely for birth control. Nearly 90% also received preventive gynecological attention, and over 50% were treated for STIs or reproductive tract infections or related conditions.[5]
Title X clinics and funding may represent the sole source of health care services for many of their clients. Of the 5.2 million patients served in 2009, 70% were below the federal poverty line and around 66% had no health insurance. In 2006, over 60% of women who received health care services at a Title X clinic identified that as their usual source of health care.[5]
Thanks again, Tess
For providing the truth and facts?
Yup and they support my argument.
Don't worry, Democrats are promising to do away with the Hyde Act completely. That way Planned Parenthood can drop any pretense about their true purposes.
"Planned Parenthood, our nation's largest abortion provider, today made a choice not to separate its abortion operation from Title X services, and in doing declined Title X funding," she said in a statement. "Planned Parenthood's decision today doubles down on their ultimate goal, which is political abortion advocacy, not healthcare."
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, called it a "huge victory" for taxpayers and women. She said community health centers, which far outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics, would fill the gap left to provide care to Title X patients.
"Planned Parenthood showed its true colors by prioritizing abortion over family planning, refusing to comply with the Protect Life Rule and dropping out of the Title X program," she said in a release. "The Protect Life Rule does not reduce family planning funding by a single dollar, it simply directs taxpayer funding to family planning providers who stay out of the abortion business."