'Big beautiful bill' threatens family planning services in West Virginia
FAIRMONT — President Donald Trump's budget may defund women's health care in some areas should the bill passed by the House of Representatives move through the US Senate unchanged.
The bill, H.R. 1, prohibits federal funds from reaching agencies that provide family planning services, reproductive health and related care. However, family planning encompasses more than just reproductive or abortion-related services.
'There's so much more involved than just planning for contraceptives,' Marion County Health Department Director David Whittaker said. 'There's many components. There is breast and cervical cancer screenings, there is sexually transmitted disease testing and pregnancy tests. They get to see a doctor, a physician they may not normally get.'
The Marion County Health Department doesn't currently offer family planning, but is working on bringing it back. The service was discontinued during the pandemic. Whittaker said the Health Department is targeting July 1 as the return date for family planning services.
Whittaker said broadly, family planning can be considered as women's health care. Family planning provides women with checkups for the underlining symptoms of breast and cervical cancer, which help reduce the risk of cancer. He said the teen pregnancy rate can also be lower in areas that provide a comprehensive family planning program. The rate of sexually transmitted diseases is also lower in communities where family planning programs are utilized.
Brian Huggins, health officer at the Monongalia County Health Department, said abortion tends to get mixed into family planning because of Planned Parenthood. In states that haven't banned abortion, Planned Parenthood offers the service. However, abortion is banned in West Virginia, meaning health departments like Monongalia and Marion do not offer the service.
Family planning, however, can prevent abortion in the first place by providing people with resources that prevent unintended pregnancies. Children born from unwanted conceptions face higher risks in life.
'A lot of the research has show that children that were unwanted conceptions are at greater risk of being born at low birth weight, of dying in the first year of life, of being abused and not receiving sufficient nutrition for healthy development,' Huggins said.
Huggins said funding for family planning is handed down by the federal government to the states, and the state distributes the funds. Funding for family planning programs is paid through Title X grants, handled by the Office of Population of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to the office's website, Title X family planning clinics have ensured access to a broad range of services for more than 50 years.
According to a locator tool on the website, Fairmont Statue University Student Health receives Title X funds, as does the Harrison-Clarksburg Health Department and Community Care of Clarksburg. Whittaker said the Marion County Health Department has received a notice of award for its family planning clinic from the state government.
Huggins said family planning does not fall under basic public health services, meaning it can't use state funds which are reserved for things like immunization. Family planning is considered an enhanced service, so the program either has to make money on its own or the funding has to come from an outside source. The federal government covers the funding for a lot of these services, but few Title X programs exist in the state.
If H.R. 1 cuts funding for family planning, Huggins said realistically, family planning wouldn't be available in the state.
'It's just another way that people that are already struggling are probably now potentially going to lose access to birth control they need and may end up with unwanted pregnancies, which comes with additional costs,' Huggins said. 'And I talked about the risks to the babies in those situations.
'And our foster care system in West Virginia is also overwhelmed. To lose family planning services could put more kids into that system.'
The teen pregnancy rate in West Virginia is 22.5 births per 1,000 girls. Overall, the teen birth rate declined by 50% from 2007 through 2020. According to Mission WV, a community welfare organization, only 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age. Ninety percent of women who do not give birth as teens graduate high school. With funding for family planning being cut, public health experts like Whittaker and Huggins worry the drop in teen pregnancy might reverse.
'A lot of the people that come in are between the ages of 16 into their late 20s, and that's when you're trying to get your life off the ground,' Huggins said. 'So really being able to give them their choice in this, is really critical and important.'
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