Washington D.C., Oct 1, 2019 / 09:00 am
The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday that is allocating $33.6 million in Title X funding previously earmarked for Planned Parenthood and other entities that have withdrawn from the program. In total, 50 groups will receive family planning grants which would otherwise have gone to abortion providers.
HHS said that the funding was for the 2019 fiscal year, and was being reallocated after it was "relinquished" by groups refusing to comply with the administration's new regulations on abortion funding.
Title X is a federal program created in 1970 under the Public Health Service Act that provides family planning funding to clinics around the country, for contraceptives and other family planning services. The act stipulated that the funds could not be used for "programs where abortion is a method of family planning."
Regulations issued in 1988 by the Reagan administration forbade abortion referrals and co-location with abortion facilities by grant recipients, but the Clinton administration later reversed this requirment, insisting that Title X recipients refer patients for abortions.