New Title X Regulations Are Unraveling the Family Planning Safety-Net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2019
Contact: Amy Moy, 415.518.4465

Statement from Essential Access Health’s President + CEO, Julie Rabinovitz, After 9th Circuit Panel Hearing Reconsidering Challenges to the Trump Administration’s Title X Regulations

“The case presented today painted a stark but clear picture. The Trump administration’s Title X regulations are unlawful, undermine the nation’s federal family planning program, and will limit patient access to quality health services from providers they know and trust.

“We are already starting to see the unraveling of the Title X provider network. The harmful consequences are far-reaching, and cannot be ignored.

“Across the country, clinics are cutting back on services and low-income patients are paying more out of pocket for birth control.

“In California, a broad range of agencies have withdrawn from program participation including federally qualified health centers, city and county health departments, and women's health clinics. This has created a seismic shift, resulting in a nearly 40% reduction in patients served by the program across the state. In addition, the number of California counties with a Title X provider has been almost cut in half, dropping from 38 to 20, since the regulations took effect.

“The impact on people’s lives will differ by region, but the facts are undeniable. These regulations are decimating the Title X system nationwide and must be reversed before we face an unnecessary public health crisis, and bear witness to the dismantling of our family planning safety-net as a result of these irresponsible and extreme policy changes.

“Over the past 50 years, Essential Access Health has built the largest and most diverse Title X provider network in the nation. We will continue to advance two important goals in tandem - supporting our network’s ability to provide the best care possible until we receive judicial relief, and doing everything we can to protect Title X’s mandate to provide comprehensive family planning services for all, for generations to come.”