HHS hits 9 Planned Parenthood affiliates with funding freeze

The Department of Health and Human Services has halted millions in grant payments to a maze of organizations, including nine Planned Parenthood affiliates, pending a review of their compliance with federal law.

The department said the recipients of Title X family-planning grants are under scrutiny for possible violations of federal civil rights laws as well as President Trump’s Feb. 19 executive order banning federal funding for illegal immigrants.

“HHS is withholding payments under Title X awards to 16 organizations, pending an evaluation of possible violations of their grant terms, including based on Federal civil rights laws and the President’s Executive Order 14218, ‘Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,’” Emily Hilliard, HHS deputy press secretary, told The Washington Times in a Tuesday email.

She added, “HHS is conducting this evaluation to ensure these entities are in full compliance with Federal law and applicable grant terms, and to ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars. HHS expects all grant recipients to abide by Federal law and applicable grant terms.”

Planned Parenthood said nine of its affiliates received letters Monday, giving them 10 days starting Tuesday to demonstrate their compliance with federal law.

That includes Mr. Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order banning government agencies, grantees and contractors from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, according to Politico.

Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said the organization would “fight to get this funding restored and to keep politicians out of health care.”

She added in a statement, “President Trump and Elon Musk are pushing their dangerous political agenda, stripping health care access from people nationwide, and not giving a second thought to the devastation they will cause. We know what happens when health care providers cannot use Title X funding: People across the country suffer, cancers go undetected, access to birth control is severely reduced, and the nation’s STI crisis worsens.”

By federal standards, the amount of grant funding under consideration is relatively modest. HHS told media outlets last month that $27.5 million in grants are under consideration for the funding pause.

Founded in 1970, Title X offers grants to state health agencies and nonprofits to deliver services such as birth control to low-income patients. The program’s budget was $286 million in the fiscal year 2024.

Given its connection to Planned Parenthood, Title X has gained political significance that exceeds its bottom line.

More than three-quarters of Planned Parenthood affiliates and 300 health centers participate in the Title X program. About 1.5 million patients visited the Title X-funded centers in 2023, the organization said.

Planned Parenthood affiliates received $21 million in Title X awards in the fiscal year 2024. That’s small change for the nation’s largest abortion provider, which reported nearly $700 million in revenue from government grants and medical reimbursements in its 2022-23 annual report.

Even so, Rep. Jill Tokuda, Hawaii Democrat, ripped the funding pause.

“The Trump admin cutting Title X funding from Planned Parenthood, including our clinic in Hawaii, is just plain cruel & a potential death sentence for women who can’t get access to cancer screenings, STI testing & treatment, and affordable birth control,” she posted on X.

In the first Trump administration, HHS banned medical providers who received funding from referring patients for abortions, prompting Planned Parenthood to pull out of the Title X program. President Joe Biden scrapped the Trump prohibition in 2021.

CatholicVote called the administration’s latest review a “big pro-life win,” and Live Action President Lila Rose framed it as a move in the right direction.

“This is an important first step toward fully defunding the $700M they take from taxpayers every year,” she wrote on X.