The following article by Osub Ahmed was posted on the Center for American Progress website July 20, 2018:
From cuts to teen pregnancy prevention funding to attempts to restrict a woman’s constitutional right to access an abortion, women’s reproductive health is under relentless attack from anti-choice policymakers and the Trump-Pence administration. As this barrage of attacks continues, the fate of a vital safety net hangs in the balance: the federal Title X family planning program.
Almost 4,000 Title X health centers serve more than 4 million low-income women and men every year and provide important family planning and related preventive health services such as birth control, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, and cancer screenings. Enacted by the Nixon administration in 1970 after garnering broad bipartisan support, Title X has since saved taxpayers billions of dollars and reduced the country’s rate of unintended pregnancies, unplanned births, and abortions. The program is especially important to young women, women of color, and immigrant women, all of whom typically face systemic barriers to accessing care.
Restrictions to Title X threaten patients and providers; therefore, it is crucial to lift up the voices of those who will be most affected and to understand what undermining a successful evidence-based program and limiting women’s access to lifesaving health care would actually mean. The author spoke with four Title X grantees across the country—in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Texas, and Nevada—about the real-world risks of sabotaging this federal program. Their thoughts and experiences are included throughout this column.