BREAKING: Planned Parenthood Defunded from the Title X Program

The Administration’s Gag Rule is Now in Effect, Impacting Thousands of Hoosiers

INDIANAPOLIS — Today, in order to meet the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)-imposed deadline of August 19, Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) has withdrawn from the Title X program as not to comply with the unethical gag rule. PPINK is a sub-grantee of the Indiana Family Health Council (IFHC) and will not accept Title X money moving forward. Health care for thousands of Hoosiers is in jeopardy.

Title X is the nation’s only dedicated program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care and has contributed to our record low teen pregnancy rates. The gag rule makes it illegal for any provider in the Title X program to tell patients how or where to access abortion, and imposes cost-prohibitive and unnecessary “physical separation” restrictions on health centers that provide abortion –– moves that are clearly meant to push Planned Parenthood health centers and other reproductive health care providers out of Title X. Planned Parenthood health centers serve 40 percent of the four million Title X patients, and have been a part of the Title X program since its inception in 1970.

Statement from Chris Charbonneau, CEO of PPINK:

“Planned Parenthood is being defunded from the Title X program. This program is critical to the thousands of people in Indiana and the millions across the country who rely on Title X health centers for cancer screenings, HIV tests, affordable birth control, and other critical primary and preventive care. We refuse to comply with this unconscionable rule that gags our providers and withholds information from our patients. We will continue to fight this administration because everyone deserves the fundamental right to health care and our government should be focused on expanding health care access, not restricting it.”

Congress is also looking to take long-term action to protect Title X. In June, the House of Representatives passed a spending package including strong language blocking the Trump-Pence Administration’s Title X gag rule from being implemented. Now, the Senate must push for a spending bill that includes protective language to make sure millions of people can continue to access health care through Title X.

The IFHC administers Title X funds in Indiana and provided services to 23,887 patients in 2017 alone. Planned Parenthood health centers treat more than 30 percent of Title X patients in Indiana, and in many Indiana communities, Planned Parenthood is the only provider of affordable reproductive health care or the only provider that offers specialized care like an IUD or the birth control shot.

Community health centers themselves say there is no way they could fill the gap. This could put affordable health care out of reach for many underserved communities, including communities of color and rural communities.  

Planned Parenthood is not the only grantee that will be forced out under the Trump Administration’s unethical gag rule—in total, the gag rule would force providers that serve nearly half of all Title X patients out of the program.