Trump admin freezes Title X funding to Planned Parenthood in Oklahoma

Yahoo

03-04-2025

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Trump administration is withholding tens of millions of dollars from federal family planning funding.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP) was informed on Monday that the Trump administration has put Title X funds to Planned Parenthood health centers in Missouri and Oklahoma on hold.
'It's really unfortunate that in this moment, politics is overshadowing the critical care that we offer,' said Emily Wales, president and CEO of PPGP.
PPGP says the decision could have a big impact on Oklahomans and their health.
'You're taking a vulnerable population and making them even more vulnerable to complications and risk of death,' said Dr. Dana Stone, OBGYN.
Title X is the nation's only federal program helping low income communities access sexual and reproductive care.
'Title X has been around for decades and it's really a unique program in that it's had bipartisan support to ensure that low income communities are able to access contraception, STI testing and healthcare,' said Wales.
Title X funding cannot be used for abortion care.
'Planned Parenthood in Oklahoma can't do abortions any longer anyway. It's illegal in the state, so none of that goes to support any abortion care in the state,' said Dr. Stone.
Dr. Stone believes Oklahomans will suffer.
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'High rates of unplanned pregnancy and complications of pregnancy as a result. They also do a lot of sexually transmitted infection screening and Oklahoma's one of the higher states in those rates,' said Dr. Stone.
Cancers could also go undetected.
'Oklahoma already has high rates of cervical cancer. As soon as you don't have those pap smear screenings, we see higher rates of cervical cancer. People get clinical breast exams with these funds as well,' said Dr. Stone.
The notice from the Trump Administration is requesting information to evaluate possible violations of grant terms with the President's Executive Order 14218, 'Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders.'
The order declares that undocumented immigrants are prohibited from obtaining most taxpayer-funded benefits.
PPGP now has to respond to the Trump Administration.
'We have to provide some information about our investment in health equity and trying to make sure that people have access to critical services, no matter where they live, no matter their race or sexual orientation,' said Wales.
The administration will then decide if the funding is terminated.
'If at some point we are notified that we're not in the program, we will communicate that to patients, but even then, Planned Parenthood isn't going anywhere,' said Wales.
Planned Parenthood will continue to explore other resources to continue providing financial support.
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