The Trump administration’s mixed messaging on federal family planning funds has anti-abortion groups simultaneously outraged and optimistic, after the administration rolled out widely divergent goals over a matter of days during the spring Congressional recess.
The conflicting policies related to Title X family planning funds included eliminating such funds entirely, rolling out the full funding without caveat and shifting the criteria for what kind of family planning activities will be funded in the future.
Title X, which provides contraceptive services as well as preventive health care like cancer and STI screenings to low-income and uninsured Americans, has been in the political crosshairs since its inception in 1970. Congress funded it with $286 million for the current fiscal year. Conservatives often object that the funds go to clinics that may also provide abortions, even if the funding itself can’t pay for such services.
