With Trump’s signature, some Texas women’s health clinics could lose more funding

Abortion providers in Texas that receive federal dollars to offer reproductive health services to low-income people are likely to lose that funding under a measure President Trump signed Thursday.

The measure allows states to exclude Planned Parenthood and other women’s health organizations that provide abortions at some of their clinics from receiving future “Title X” money, federal money that funds family planning services such as contraceptive counseling, pregnancy tests and STD testing.

It reverses a rule made in the final months of the Obama administration that aimed to protect such providers from conservative state legislatures seeking to defund them over their connection to abortion.

Joe Pojman, executive director of the anti-abortion Texas Alliance for Life, said he was “overjoyed” about the new Title X rule and that abortion providers like Planned Parenthood should not be allowed to receive any federal or state dollars.

Currently, Texas receives Title X funds via one organization — the Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas — which distributes a $14 million pot of money across 28 providers. Those providers operate a combined 100 clinics statewide.

Kami Geoffray, the association’s CEO, said allowing the state to muscle out abortion providers could be harmful to patients that federal money currently serves. The Texas Legislature already cut tens of millions of dollars in state family planning funding during the 2011 session, she said; now, some clinics could lose these federal dollars, too.

“We saw people lose care, not connect to another provider and essentially we saw an increase in unplanned pregnancy and Medicaid births,” Geoffray said of the last big round of cuts. “When you lose those specialty care providers, clients may find another provider or they may not … We’ve seen this narrative play out already in our state, and that’s what we could see again.”

Reproductive rights advocates have feared that the aftermath of the 2016 election cycle could mean more stringent anti-abortion laws and funding cuts. In Texas and other conservative states, that fear is pronounced, with Republicans controlling all levels of government. The next application cycle for Title X money begins in 2018.

Yvonne Gutierrez, executive director for Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, said she thinks Trump and Congress are having “a beating of the chest moment” after failing to repeal Obama’s signature federal health law. She said it’s still unclear what impact the new federal rule will have for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas and Planned Parenthood of San Antonio are the only two affiliates of the organization that currently receive Title X funding. They serve 26,000 people with that money.

“Congress is acting extremely recklessly with women’s health, so the future of Title X is unknown,” Gutierrez said. “Until we know what’s next to come with the program, we will not know what the impact will be of no longer having this protection.”

Read related Tribune coverage:

• An amendment to ban abortion providers from receiving any funds from the state budget passed in the House, but it’s unclear how effective it would be in fully defunding groups like Planned Parenthood.
• Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas and around the country are vying for funding and survival now that Republicans control both chambers of Congress, the White House and many state legislatures.
• Showing multiple clips from a video released in 2015 by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress, state attorneys and witnesses said the footage was grounds for dismissing Planned Parenthood from Medicaid.
• Following a directive from the Legislature, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission announced Wednesday that it would combine two of the state’s main women’s health programs to create the “Healthy Texas Women” program on July 1.

Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.