Trump administration plans to freeze family-planning grants

Tens of millions of dollars in federal funding for Planned Parenthood and other groups would be cut off while the administration examines their diversity efforts.

A woman, who chose to remain anonymous, has her vitals checked before receiving an abortion at a Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida in 2022. Picture: AFP

The Trump administration is moving to freeze tens of millions of dollars in federal family-planning grants to certain organisations while it investigates whether the money was used for diversity efforts, people familiar with the matter said.

The groups that would be subject to the freeze, which include Planned Parenthood affiliates, were set to get about $120 million this year.

The freeze, which could be made public as soon as this week, would suspend funding meant to support, in the US, pregnancy testing, provision of contraception, treatment of sexually transmitted infections and evaluation and counselling for infertility.

An HHS spokesman said the department was reviewing grant recipients to make sure they comply with President Trump’s executive orders.

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said: “The Trump-Vance-Musk administration wants to shut down Planned Parenthood health centres by any means necessary, and they’ll end people’s access to birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and more to do it.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr is the US Secretary of Health and Human Services. Picture: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP

The Department of Health and Human Services distributes the funds under its program known as Title X.

The $120 million is roughly half the money available for the program for the year, according to the HHS website. The program gives free or discounted services to about four million people annually through a network of roughly 4,000 clinics.

Planned Parenthood clinics in about a dozen states were set to receive roughly $20 million in family-planning grants this year.

During the freeze, the department plans to examine whether the funds were used for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the people said.

Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office directing his administration to scrub DEI efforts from all corners of the federal government.

HHS could later decide to fully rescind the grants or reallocate the money to other organisations.

The freeze would partially fulfil a longtime conservative goal of de-funding Planned Parenthood because it provides abortions and advocates for abortion rights. In 2019, the first Trump administration moved to bar organisations that refer patients for abortions from receiving family planning grants. The Biden administration rescinded the rule.

Wall Street Journal