As the federal shutdown continues, some programs are on hold. But others have been zeroed out, including the Title X program. It funds nearly 4,000 clinics throughout the country to provide family planning and screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted infections to low-income people.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio Executive Director Lauren Blauvelt said that agency provides most of the Title X family planning services in the state. She said because of the loss of Title X and Medicaid cuts, Planned Parenthood will take a $10 million loss. But she added low-income Ohioans will lose more.
“It’s almost unimaginable how bad that the health care environment for Ohioans is going to be," Blauvelt said.
There have been a lot of efforts on the federal and state levels to cut Planned Parenthood's funding in the past, largely because the organization provides abortions in some locations. Federal law prohibits government money from being used for abortions. Still, many opponents have said they don't want any federal money going to the organization for any reason. Now, with Title X being zeroed out, there won't be federal money to help low-income people with services.
“This grant has been around since the 70s so it’s a big loss to communities that rely on it even if they don’t realize it," Blauvelt said.
Blauvelt says about 40% of Planned Parenthood’s patients use Medicaid as their health insurance. Blauvelt said there's no place where low-income Ohioans can turn to get the services Planned Parenthood has been providing. She said that was evident when the organization lacked federal funding for a short time in the last Trump administration. Blauvelt said many low-income people in Ohio had nowhere to turn.
“We’ve known from the first Trump administration that when we were taken out of the program that other health care providing weren’t able to pick up patients. They didn’t have the room or they weren’t in the same area or patients didn’t know about them,” Blauvelt said. “Either way, the numbers didn’t really pick up the number of people they were serving.”
Blauvelt said the organization does not have immediate plans to close clinics. She said Planned Parenthood has already closed a Cleveland-area clinic earlier this year. She said Planned Parenthood has also needed to reduce its workforce and hours of operation. And she said the organization will continue to make adjustments to serve low-income Ohioans, sometimes with private funding.
