August 29, 2018 Press Release

Statement from Equity Forward on Today’s Title X Funding Announcement in Politico Pro

08.29.18 – Earlier today, Politico Pro (story below) reported that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced funding amounts for Title X grantees.  Unlike in years past, the funding is only for seven months, not the usual years long cycle.  Equity Forward issued the following response, which follows our reaction to the grantee announcement made earlier this month.

“Equity Forward is deeply concerned about today’s Title X funding announcement,” said Mary Alice Carter, Executive Director of Equity Forward.

“Why is this grant cycle only seven months instead of the customary three years?  Why wait to announce the funding amounts weeks after the grant recipient announcement was made?  Yet again, Alex Azar’s HHS produces more questions than answers.

“These types of troubling developments are no surprise when Azar staffed up his operation with anti-choice warriors like Steven Valentine and Valerie Huber — two anti-reproductive health care appointees who are opposed to the very programs they’re supposed to be running.  Our nation’s family planning program is a vital and important way that millions of people get health care in this country and Equity Forward will continue to monitor developments related to its funding.”

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POLITICO Pro Health Care Whiteboard: HHS awards Title X grants, shortens funding cycle

By Rachel Roubein and Brianna Ehley, 08.29.2018

HHS this week awarded $182 million in Title X federal family planning grants for a shortened cycle of seven months — a move critics say will add administrative headaches and make it more difficult for recipients to provide high-quality care.

HHS has not posted the funding announcement online, indicating that further program changes are still possible.

HHS this week awarded $182 million in Title X federal family planning grants for a shortened cycle of seven months — a move critics say will add administrative headaches and make it more difficult for recipients to provide high-quality care.

HHS has not posted the funding announcement online, indicating that further program changes are still possible.

The Title X program has been the focus of an intensifying political and legal battle, with the Trump administration seeking to steer money away from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers and toward faith-based programs.

The latest recipients include Planned Parenthood affiliates. The largest award, $14.3 million, went to Essential Access Health, which administers California’s Title X program. Other grants ranged from several million to $94,000, according to a list obtained by POLITICO.

Senate HELP Committee ranking Democrat Patty Murray criticized the decision to shift away from the program’s annual grants, characterizing the move as “all about moving as quickly as possible to undermine health care access for millions of people and to gag providers from discussing the full range of reproductive care options with patients.”

“Shortening these grants is a gimmick, plain and simple,” Murray said in a statement.

Earlier this month, HHS announced it would award Title X grants to 96 organizations, including to the 13 Planned Parenthood affiliates that applied.

Planned Parenthood said in a statement that the new grants don’t change its view that the Trump administration is trying to block access to reproductive health care.

“Even as HHS announces these important grants for health care, it is rushing to finalize a domestic gag rule that would take that care away,” Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

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