Family Planning Freezes

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Nearly 100 Democratic lawmakers are urging Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reinstate critical federal funding for family planning services that has been on hold for over two months.

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In a letter sent Friday and obtained by The Hill, 95 House Democrats called on the Biden administration to release Title X grants that were frozen on March 31. The freeze has impacted more than a dozen organizations, including nine Planned Parenthood clinics. Since then, recipients say they’ve been left in limbo—with no updates on the investigation or when the funds might be restored.

According to the clinics, the grants were suspended after receiving notices citing potential civil rights violations and invoking executive orders from the Trump era. Those orders opposed federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, as well as what they referred to as the “taxpayer subsidization of open borders.”

Lawmakers say the freeze has already disrupted access to essential reproductive health care for low-income Americans and warn that continued delays could cause serious harm. “Congress has already appropriated these funds,” the letter states, adding that the administration has a duty to distribute them without “undue delay or obstruction.”

The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the situation, citing active litigation. The freeze is currently the subject of lawsuits filed by the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The letter was spearheaded by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas), and Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), and signed by 91 of their colleagues. The timing coincides with the 60th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, which established a constitutional right to access contraception.

Title X, created in the 1970s, is the only federal program dedicated to providing affordable birth control and reproductive health services to those who need it most. But recent actions, the lawmakers argue, are placing reproductive freedom under renewed threat.

While the previous Trump administration imposed restrictions on Title X recipients—barring abortion referrals and mandating separate facilities for abortion-related services—Democrats are now pressing the current administration to reject that legacy and ensure access to care remains protected.