Starting Tuesday, the Trump administration will begin withholding certain federal funds from Planned Parenthood, impacting access to services like cancer screenings and affordable birth control, the organization announced.
Planned Parenthood stated on Monday that nine of its affiliates were notified that the administration would block funding from Title X, the federal family-planning program.
Since 1970, Title X has helped fund health centers for reproductive care and family planning, including non-abortion services such as birth control.
In the 2024 fiscal year, the program received approximately $286 million in federal funding.
Neither the White House nor the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Title X grants, responded to requests for comment on Monday night.
During President Trump’s first term in 2019, his administration imposed restrictions on Title X, barring clinics from referring patients for abortions.
Planned Parenthood withdrew from the program rather than comply with the new rules, but rejoined in 2021 after President Biden reversed the policy.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson warned that the funding loss would lead to more undiagnosed cancers, limited access to birth control, and a worsening STI crisis.
She also accused Trump and Elon Musk of advancing a harmful political agenda at the expense of health care access.
According to Kelly Baden of the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, publicly funded programs like Title X are vital for affordable reproductive health care.
Of the 25 million women receiving contraceptive care each year, 18% rely on clinics funded by Title X. Many of these women are low-income or underinsured.
Planned Parenthood also receives funding through Medicaid and other federal programs. In 2023, government health service reimbursements made up 34% of its revenue, according to its annual report.
Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion advocates have long sought to defund Planned Parenthood. Trump had promised to remove the organization from Title X during his first campaign, and the issue resurfaced in his most recent run.
In October, Vice President JD Vance stated that a second Trump term would seek to end federal funding to the organization, arguing that taxpayer dollars should not support late-term abortions.
The funding freeze, first reported by The Wall Street Journal last week, would withhold $27.5 million from Planned Parenthood and other groups while officials review whether the funds were used for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) condemned the move, stating last Tuesday that withholding Title X funds puts women’s lives at risk and strips low-income individuals of essential reproductive health care.
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