Biden Administration’s New Title X Rules are in Effect
New Title X Rules Restore the Integrity of Our Nation’s Family Planning Program + Promote Health Access and Equity Nationwide
The final Title X rule released by the Biden Administration took effect on November 8, 2021. Essential Access Health applauds the Biden Administration for taking action to restore the integrity of our federal family planning program and ensure access to equitable, affordable, high quality family planning services across the country. Learn more in our statement.
Implementation of the final rule comes not a moment too soon. The COVID-19 pandemic and abortion restrictions sweeping the nation make removing barriers to birth control and complete and unbiased information about pregnancy options more critical than ever.
We stand committed to partnering with the administration, Congress, and allied organizations in California and across the country to rebuild our family planning safety-net. Together we can and must create a more equitable, client-centered and just health system that meets the unique health needs of every person in need of care – with dignity and respect.
About Title X in California
The Title X federal family planning program was established by Congress in 1970 with bi-partisan support. In California, Title X funding supports the delivery of quality sexual and reproductive services such as birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment and other preventive services. Title X has played a significant role in reducing unintended pregnancies to their lowest levels in 30 years.
Essential Access Health leads the largest and most diverse Title X system in the country and has served as the lead Title X grantee in the state of California for more than 50 years. Our statewide Title X network includes comprehensive family planning service providers, STI prevention partners, and faith and community based outreach and education partners that collectively serve over 29 California counties. Essential Access took immediate action to rebuild California’s statewide Title X provider network as soon as the Biden Administration’s final rule took effect. California’s provider network offers equitable, affordable, high quality, and client centered family planning services for patients with low-incomes at over 400 clinic sites throughout the state. Learn more about our statewide network.
With the introduction of the Biden administration’s final Title X rule, we are ready to rebuild a robust and comprehensive network of qualified providers and support the delivery of equitable, affordable, high quality, client-centered family planning services for low-income patients statewide.
Essential Access Health v. Azar
On February 22, 2019, the Trump administration released new regulations rules for the Title X federal family planning program that undermined the program’s mandate to provide comprehensive family planning services for all. The regulations represented some of the most extreme policy changes introduced in the history of the program and denied Title X patients complete and unbiased information about their pregnancy options by withholding abortion referrals, even when requested. These draconian policy changes dictated a lower standard of care for low-income patients that disproportionately impacted individuals living in rural regions, and Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color.
On March 4, 2019 – the day the regulations were scheduled to take effect, for the first time in our organization’s history – Essential Access went to court. As an original Title X grantee and leader of the largest Title X system in the nation, we had an obligation to take the extraordinary step of filing a legal challenge in federal court in the Northern District of California, to save Title X and protect patient access to time-sensitive information and health services.
Essential Access advanced our fight to save Title X all the way to the United States Supreme Court. You can learn more about our fight to #SaveTitleX below.
The Fight to #SaveTitleX – A Timeline
Download the Essential Access Health v Azar Litigation Timeline (PDF)
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Resources + Information
- Biden Administration’s Final Title X Rule
- Essential Access Health Comments on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
- U.S. Supreme Court dismissal of Title X cases
- President Biden's Notice of Proposed Rulingmaking
- President Biden's Memorandum on Protecting Women's Health at Home and Abroad
- Essential Access Health et al Supreme Court Cert Petition Reply Brief
- Cert Petition filed to the Supreme Court
- Essential Access Health v Azar – Petition for Full Court of Limited En Banc Rehearing of Court's February 24, 2020 Opinion
- Essential Access Health v Azar – Motion for Summary Judgment
- Essential Access Health v Azar – Petition for Rehearing En Banc
- Essential Access Health v Azar – Motion for En Banc Reconsideration
- Essential Access Health v Azar – Statement on Ninth Circuit Motions Panel Decision (lifting the preliminary injunction)
- Essential Access Health v Azar – Preliminary Injunction Decision (blocking Title X regulations from taking effect in California)
- Essential Access Health v Azar – Preliminary Injunction Motion
- Essential Access Health v. Azar Complaint
- KFF Brief: New Title X Regulations: Implications for Women and Family Planning Providers
- Guttmacher Institute’s Comprehensive Guide to Proposed Changes to Title X
- NFPRHA Fact Sheet: Title X's Role in California (PDF)
Contact us to receive additional information and materials.
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For the Media
- 10.4.21: Essential Access Health Applauds Release of Biden Administrations New Title X Rules
- 4.14.21: Biden Administration Releases Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Title X Federal Family Planning Program
- 2.22.21: U.S. Supreme Court Grants Review of Challenge to Trump-era Title X Regulations, Statement by Julie Rabinovitz, President + CEO, Essential Access Health
- 1.28.21: President Biden Releases Title X Presidential Memorandum, Statement by Julie Rabinovitz, President + CEO, Essential Access Health
- 10.1.20: Press release regarding Cert Petition filed to the Supreme Court to halt implementation of the Trump administration’s Title X regulations nationwide
- 4.9.2020: Statement regarding request for full 9th Circuit reconsideration of Title X decision
- 2.24.2020: Statement on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ devastating decision for Title X patients nationwide
- 2.20.2020: Statement following Motion for Summary Judgment Hearing in District Court in San Francisco
- 2.14.2020: Statement on District Court Judge enjoining Title X regulations in Maryland
- 9.23.2019: Statement after oral arguments before en banc panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
- 7.15.2019: Statement Regarding Implementation of Title X Regulations
- 6.20.2019: Statement on Title X Court Decision Lifting Preliminary Injunction
- 4.29.2019: Press Release regarding preliminary injunction to block Title X regulations in California
- 4.18.2019: Essential Access Health’s media advisory for April 18th preliminary injunction hearing
- 3.28.2019: Press release applauding the CA State Senate for taking action to #SaveTitleX
- 3.22.2019: Press release on filing a preliminary injunction motion to block harmful and unlawful Title X regulations from taking effect.
- 3.04.2019: Press release on our legal challenge to block Title X regulations from taking effect.
- 2.28.2019: Essential Access Health’s statement on how the changes could impact Title X in California
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