President Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze May Reach the Title X Family Planning Program

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There have been media reports that the Trump administration is freezing $27.5 million in grants made to organizations funding clinics across the nation that provide contraceptive services to low-income and uninsured people supported by the Federal Title X family planning program. Established in 1972, this program provides support to nearly 4,000 clinics, serving nearly 2.8 million patients in 2023. It has historically had widespread public support. It has been caught in the web of reproductive and abortion politics since the Reagan administration.

This is not the first time the program has faced significant changes under President Trump. Under the first Trump administration, the administration disqualified all sites that provide both family planning services and abortion services, banned referrals to abortion providers sought by pregnant patients (it does not fund any abortion services), and funneled family planning funds to crisis pregnancy centers—including those that didn’t provide any contraceptive care. One-in-four clinics left the program, and the number of people receiving care through the program plummeted. The Trump regulation was reversed in the early days of the Biden administration. 

The news reports say the current administration’s justification for the funding freeze is to ensure that the grants comply with President Trump’s executive orders, specifically to those banning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It is very likely they will find nearly all of the grants to be problematic, as under the Biden administration, all applications were instructed to “describe plans and strategies for providing family planning services that address OPA program priorities and data collection requirements, including: advancing health equity throughout the delivery of Title X family planning services” in their proposal. In the assessment of the grant proposals, 20 points (of 100 total) were to be allocated based on the “ability of the applicant to advance health equity, including evidence that the structure of the recipient network will effectively address the need for services and result in increased access to quality family planning services for all clients, especially for low-income clients.”

Program funding totaling $27.5 million dollars is said to be under review. Currently, $20.6 million goes to grants directly from the Trump administration to Planned Parenthood to cover the costs of providing services, and likely millions more go to Planned Parenthood sites that are funded through other grantees. While Planned Parenthood would see significant funding cuts, it is also likely that other clinics will be affected. Project 2025, the policy roadmap of much of the administration’s actions, calls for the restoration of the Trump 1.0 Title X regulations and the passage of a federal law to permanently bar participation of clinics that offer both contraception and abortion services. While this funding freeze could be the Trump administration’s first major salvo in its efforts to weaken and defund Planned Parenthood, more actions by this administration, Congress, and state policy makers to limit access to abortion and contraception are expected in the coming years.