On Oct. 5, the Biden administration reversed the previous policy surrounding Title X enacted by the Trump administration. This change again allows clinics to receive federal family-planning grants, even if they refer patients for abortions.
Brief History of Title X
The full name of Title X is the ‘Title X Family Planning Program.’ In 1970, President Nixon enacted the Public Health Service Act. Title X was enacted under this act and is the only federal grant program that provides family planning and related preventive health services to individuals.
importance of TITLE X
Title X is important because it provides services to low-income families and uninsured people. A common misconception surrounding Title X is that it directly provides funding for centers that offer abortion care services, but this is not the case. Title X only provides funding to centers that provide family planning services, such as Planned Parenthood; however, these centers can refer patients to centers that do offer abortions.
TRUMP VS. BIDEN
Until 2019, Title X had not changed since its enactment in 1970. In 2019, the Trump administration implemented a new rule that forbade any provider within the Title X network from mentioning abortion care to patients. In response, an influx of Planned Parenthood centers and even seven state governments dropped out of the Title X network. Although this was the main change to Title X, the Trump rule also allowed the existence of crisis pregnancy centers and the erosion of certain confidentiality standards. Crisis pregnancy centers are often affiliated with religions that counsel patients against abortions. Some could argue that this allowance could be deemed unconstitutional because of the need to separate church and state. The erosion of confidentiality standards occurred when Title X encouraged providers to ensure family participation in all decision-making.
These changes caused many centers to have to choose between funding and providing comprehensive medical care. According to Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, the total number of patients decreased from four million in 2017 to 1.5 million in 2020. The purpose of Title X is to provide comprehensive care to people who could otherwise not afford it. To do this, the centers that provide these services need funding. By changing the definition of comprehensive care, many people couldn’t get the services they needed, either because they no longer felt comfortable trying to obtain these services or because their provider could no longer provide them.
Biden’s changes to Title X undo the changes made by the Trump administration. These changes allow providers to counsel and refer patients to abortion providers. However, the Biden administration does change Title X by allowing individuals not to counsel or refer patients to abortion care if they have moral or religious exemptions. The other part of Biden’s changes to Title X is that it encourages confidential counseling. Confidential counseling allows patients to make decisions without others, and their providers can not share their information. With these new changes, the hope is that the many providers who left the Title X network will now rejoin. However, for these providers to rejoin Title X, the Biden administration will have to hold a competition. This competition would give any applicant in the country a chance to apply for Title X funding.
Title X provides essential funding to facilities that provide comprehensive care to people that could otherwise not afford it. Everyone should know what Title X is and what it entails to better understand their rights, especially with the introduction of anti-abortion bills in places like Texas (Senate Bill 8).
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