Free US family planning clinics face ruin after White House freezes funds [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Mon 14 Apr 2025 14.31 EDT
Last modified on Mon 14 Apr 2025 15.32 EDT


More than 10 days after the Trump administration froze roughly $66m of federal funds that had been earmarked for no- and low-cost family planning services, the providers that had been scheduled to receive that money are staring down the possibility of financial collapse. Title X, the country’s largest federal family planning program, provides clinics across the country with more than $200m each year for services such as contraception, STI tests and cancer screenings. In 2023, more than 2 million people received healthcare through Title X, which helps people regardless of income, age or citizenship status. For many, Title X is their only source of healthcare.

But the future of the decades-old program is now in limbo. On 31 March, the Trump administration notified 16 Title X providers that their funds would be temporarily withheld “pending a compliance review”, a US Department of Health and Human Services official told the Guardian. Title X programs had just 10 days – until Thursday 10 April – to turn over documentation for the review. Yet multiple Title X providers told the Guardian that they have not heard anything from the Trump administration since submitting their documentation.

Seven states currently have no Title X funding, while another 16 states have lost most or some Title X dollars, according to the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which represents the majority of Title X providers. In total, the funding freeze affects clinics that, in 2023, served about 846,000 people. As Title X clinics often operate with razor-thin margins, this delay in funding could prove catastrophic, Title X providers said.

“If these funds are not released, many clinics are going to be facing the decision to either significantly reduce their staff and services or close their doors altogether,” said Michelle Trupiano, executive director of Missouri Family Health Council Inc, which handles Title X funding for 52 clinics scattered across Missouri. “Once a clinic lays off staff or closes their doors, it’s almost impossible to open them again.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/14/title-x-clinics-trump-administration-grants-freeze