State abortion bans in Tennessee and beyond, which constrain women’s health care, have put family planning clinics at risk of losing their federal funding.
The conflict involves the Title X family planning program, which provides services to low-income people, including minors. As of 2021, more than 3,200 clinics used federal grants to supply free or low-cost contraception, testing for sexually transmitted infections, screening for breast and cervical cancer, and pregnancy-related counseling.
Federal regulations for the program, which was established more than 50 years ago to reduce unintended pregnancies, say participating clinics must offer pregnant women information about terminating pregnancies and abortion referrals on request. But following those rules puts medical providers at odds with state laws banning abortion, some of which threaten jail time, fines, or the loss of medical licenses if they help someone end a pregnancy.
President Joe Biden’s administration at the end of March cut off Tennessee’s Title X funds after determining the state health department — which oversees its clinics and was awarded $7.1 million last year — violated federal rules by not counseling patients about abortion. “Continued funding is not in the best interest of the government,” two Department of Health and Human Services officials wrote to Tennessee officials on March 20. The state had more than 100 Title X clinics as of March, according to an HHS directory.
In 2022, the federal government awarded Title X grants to roughly 90 entities, a mix of state and local governments and priva …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
State abortion bans in Tennessee and beyond, which constrain women’s health care, have put family planning clinics at risk of losing their federal funding.
The conflict involves the Title X family planning program, which provides services to low-income people, including minors. As of 2021, more than 3,200 clinics used federal grants to supply free or low-cost contraception, testing for sexually transmitted infections, screening for breast and cervical cancer, and pregnancy-related counseling.
Federal regulations for the program, which was established more than 50 years ago to reduce unintended pregnancies, say participating clinics must offer pregnant women information about terminating pregnancies and abortion referrals on request. But following those rules puts medical providers at odds with state laws banning abortion, some of which threaten jail time, fines, or the loss of medical licenses if they help someone end a pregnancy.
President Joe Biden’s administration at the end of March cut off Tennessee’s Title X funds after determining the state health department — which oversees its clinics and was awarded $7.1 million last year — violated federal rules by not counseling patients about abortion. “Continued funding is not in the best interest of the government,” two Department of Health and Human Services officials wrote to Tennessee officials on March 20. The state had more than 100 Title X clinics as of March, according to an HHS directory.
In 2022, the federal government awarded Title X grants to roughly 90 entities, a mix of state and local governments and priva …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]