State Officials Call For Trump Administration To Disburse Title X Funds for Planned Parenthood

by Jamil Ragland CTNewsJunkie

HARTFORD, CT – Elected officials and pro-choice advocates are demanding that the Trump administration release the Title X funds it is withholding, while opponents of Planned Parenthood have questioned whether the organization is truly facing financial hardships.

“Over 41,000 residents in our state rely on Title X federal funds at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, and they rely on those funds to access routine, basic, preventative, reproductive, and other kinds of health care,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said, flanked by advocates and members of the State House of Representatives Reproductive Rights Caucus.

“This is a major public health concern. We know that the quicker patients are diagnosed, whether with an infection or with cancer, the quicker they get treated. That results in a higher treatment success rate and mitigates outbreaks of communicable diseases,” Bysiewicz noted. 

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) stands to lose $1.89 million in federal funding after it received notice that the Trump administration is withholding the funds, effective March 31, pending a “compliance review” of the organization.

Title X is a federal program that provides funding for family planning and preventative health services. By law, Title X funds cannot be used to provide abortions.

Gretchen Raffa, chief policy and advocacy officer for PPSNE, called the Trump administration’s actions “shameful, but not surprising.”

“The Trump administration and Elon Musk don’t care about the people these cuts are going to harm and the devastation that this is going to cause,” she said. “They are pushing their dangerous political agenda using patients as political pawns to defund Planned Parenthood, which will only worsen the public health crisis that they’ve created. This is not just an attack on Planned Parenthood; it’s an attack on health, dignity, and freedom of the more than 40,000 Planned Parenthood of Southern New England patients that rely on the Title X program every year to access this essential preventative care.”

Elected officials also took the opportunity to call on the governor and legislature to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates, especially for organizations providing family planning services.

“When you look at the Medicaid rates that we provide for family planning to Planned Parenthood, we haven’t increased the rate for an IUD insertion, which is a best-practice, long-acting birth control method,” said Rep. Jillian Gilchrest, D-West Hartford, co-chair of the Reproductive Rights  Caucus. “We pay about $150 less per visit than our surrounding states. You look at a 20-minute appointment and we are woefully behind. You look at a pregnancy test, we are woefully behind. And so we need to increase those Medicaid rates to ensure that Planned Parenthood can continue to operate strongly in the state of Connecticut and be the trusted provider that they are and we want them to be.”

Gilchrest said that she thinks there’s a good chance that increased Medicaid reimbursements will make it out of the General Assembly this session. 

Gilchrest also stated that while budget negotiations are ongoing, she and her legislative partners are committed to continuing their support for Planned Parenthood, even if federal funding continues to be withheld. The legislature already approved an additional $800,000 for PPSNE in a spending bill signed by Gov. Ned Lamont in March.

However, there are some who feel that Planned Parenthood already has the resources it needs to carry out its mission. Chris Healy, executive director of the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference, called the decision of elected officials in the state to use taxpayer money to support Planned Parenthood “disappointing.”

“While other nonprofit agencies that provide food, mental health services, and services to the homeless beg the state for additional funding, taxpayer money just keeps flowing into PPSNE. Hopefully the fake claim that PPSNE will have to cut services, due to a reduction in Title X funds, will not result in another financial win for PPSNE and a fiscal and moral loss for Connecticut taxpayers,” Healy said.

Peter Wolfgang, president of the Family Institute of Connecticut Action, said that he was thankful to President Trump for being sane and not funneling money to Planned Parenthood.

“I think it’s outrageous that Planned Parenthood has gotten an extra $6.3 million of state taxpayer funding when they’re already sitting on a $47 million endowment,” he said, referencing numbers that he said his organization found in tax documents. “It feels a little bit like a money-laundering operation. The politicians vote for more state taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood, who then in turn elect the politicians who are funneling money to them. And the whole thing stinks and I hope the state becomes more aware of it.”