The Trump administration is withholding tens of millions in federal family planning money from Planned Parenthood and other health care providers, impacting organizations in Oklahoma as of Tuesday.
On the same day, StateImpact Oklahoma confirmed via an agency spokesperson the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) received an award of $1.96 million in Title X funding. They said the department doesn’t know with certainty what the total award will be.
OSDH initially lost its Title X funding in 2023 after it refused to meet one of the grant’s requirements to provide counseling to pregnant people on all options, including abortion if a patient requests it. The spokesperson said the agency is still reviewing the notice it received.
“We are appreciative of all that has been involved in restoring Oklahoma's long-standing and successful Title X grant, and look forward to continuing these important services throughout the state as we have done for over 50 years,” the spokesperson said.
The State Department of Health had received this funding since 1971. Clinics participating in Title X programs offer confidential and low-cost family planning resources for all ages, including contraceptives, counseling and pregnancy testing.
Laura Bellis, the executive director of Oklahoma nonprofit Take Control Initiative, said after Oklahoma lost Title X, the Missouri Family Health Council received funding to coordinate the state's Title X services.
Bellis said that funding went to support services in Oklahoma's Planned Parenthood health centers. She said her nonprofit also received some dollars for rural access to pregnancy and STI prevention. An additional goal was to build clinic capacity among other providers.
On Tuesday, the Missouri Family Health Council said in a press release it is among multiple grantees to have Title X funding withheld by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“For decades, MFHC has been proud to lead the Title X family planning program, supporting a network delivering high-quality, affordable healthcare to tens of thousands of Missourians and Oklahomans every day,” said Michelle Trupiano, the group’s executive director. “Withholding these critical funds, even temporarily, threatens the essential sexual and reproductive healthcare communities depend on.”
A statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services made to the Washington Post said the funding is being withheld from organizations while it investigates “possible violations of their grant terms.”
Oklahoma has been fighting for the return of the Title X funding it lost through a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that made it to the U.S. Supreme Court last year. There, Oklahoma's request for an emergency order to stop the Biden Administration from blocking its federal family planning money was rejected.
When asked if OSDH’s award for Title X funding will impact the state’s litigation, a spokesperson from the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday it’s premature to comment, as some information is “still unknown at this point.”
The Missouri Family Health Council said in its press release that family planning services are still available in Missouri and Oklahoma as health centers evaluate options.
“We will respond to HHS’ request for additional information and hope for a swift resolution,” Trupiano said. “However, any funding delays will be dire for the healthcare safety-net, leading to shuttered clinic doors, untreated illnesses, and communities left with grave outcomes.”
Bellis said because these dollars have been unstable in the past, her nonprofit has always budgeted as if they don’t exist. She said Take Control wants to ensure Title X dollars are in the state and especially getting to rural areas.
"It's definitely hard to navigate helping and supporting the community to access services when shifts like this are happening. But the biggest thing we care about is the services existing where they're needed,” Bellis said. “... My biggest concern would be if they don't get unfrozen, or they're not actually getting to those areas or these dollars get cut.”
In Oklahoma, 53.2% of counties are defined as maternity care deserts. Bellis cited this, physician shortages and rising costs as factors for why Oklahomans need Title X funding.
“I just hope these dollars continue, and that they are more stable in the future because it's so important that we have them,” Bellis said. “But as they keep being moved and shifted around like a pawn in bigger political games, it's disrupting regular services to the people that need them most.”
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