Planned Parenthood Sues Trump-Pence Administration To Protect 4 Million Patients Who Rely on Title X for Health Care
For Immediate Release: May 2, 2018 (Updated: May 2, 2018, 7:39 p.m.)
Today, three Planned Parenthood affiliates filed suit in federal district court in Washington, D.C. against the Trump-Pence administration to prevent them from radically remaking Title X, the nation’s only program for birth control and reproductive health care. Planned Parenthood is asking the court to declare the changes to the Title X program illegal and prevent the Trump Administration from implementing them so that the Title X program can continue to provide life-saving care as it was intended to do.
“All of us deserve the right to access quality, compassionate, affordable health care, regardless of who you are, where you live, or how much money you make,” said Nicole Clegg, Vice President of Public Policy, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and the Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund. “The Trump-Pence administration can’t just ignore the law. What they’re trying to do is illegal and would have devastating consequences for our patients. Today, Planned Parenthood and our colleagues in women’s health are going to court to stop them.”
TItle X is the country’s only initiative dedicated to affordable birth control and reproductive health care. More than four million people rely on the program that is meant to ensure that every person — regardless of where they live, how much money they make, what their background is, or whether or not they have health insurance — has access to basic, preventive reproductive health care, such as birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and regular check-ups. As a participant in the Title X program, health care providers commit to providing care to all who need it, regardless of ability to pay.
In Maine, Title X supports a network of reproductive and sexual health care providers throughout the state including Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. This funding is a lifeline to the 22,500 women, men and young people who depend on it, many of whom would forgo care otherwise. The four Planned Parenthood health centers in Maine serve 44 percent of Title X patients in the state and are among the only places people can come to for specialized care like an IUD or the birth control shot.
In late February, the Trump-Pence administration began trying to completely remake the Title X program through a call for funding applications, changing the program so that it no longer focuses on either birth control or reproductive health care and instead pushes patients toward abstinence and tries to keep patients from coming to Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health care providers. Not only is this illegal, but it could have devastating consequences and threaten health care for millions.