Thousands of Pennsylvania clinics likely to be affected by Trump freeze of Title X funding

Signe Espinoza, the executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, said in a statement issued on March 25 that President Donald Trump’s recent freeze of funding under Title X will leave thousands of Pennsylvanians without access to basic family planning health care. 

“This decision is cruel, reckless, and rooted in political ideology rather than public health,” Espinoza said. “Title X funding is a lifeline for people who would otherwise be unable to afford essential health services. By cutting off access, this administration is putting lives at risk and disproportionately harming Black, Brown, and rural communities who already face barriers to care.”

Planned Parenthood’s medical operations are funded by private donations, Medicaid, and federal grants that reimburse clinics for services provided to patients who are unable to pay, the latter through the federal Title X Family Planning Program, established in 1970 to make family planning and reproductive health care accessible. 

Title X funding covers testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, cancer screenings, pregnancy testing, and contraception.

In an interview with the Pennsylvania Independent in February conducted before the Title X cuts went into effect, Fadia Halma, Lehigh Valley regional director for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, said people from all walks of life use the services of Planned Parenthood clinics. 

“It’s not just poor people. They think that we’re offering this to just kids who are having early sex and getting pregnant. That’s not what it’s about at all,” said Halma, who is also a Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania board member. “There’s all different age groups that come to Planned Parenthood, all different types of constituencies, white, Black, brown, Asian — there’s many different constituents that actually come to Planned Parenthood and use it.” 

In 2024, Pennsylvania received around $13.5 million in Title X funding, according to the Office of Population Affairs, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The state is the third-highest recipient of Title X funding in the country. 

Nine U.S. Planned Parenthood clinics that receive Title X money shared notices they’d received from HHS with Politico. The notices said that the money was being withheld because the clinics had violated Trump’s executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion and “taxpayer subsidization of open borders.”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that eight Adagio Health Medical Offices located primarily in rural areas had announced that they’d lost their Title X family planning funding as of April 1. 

Alicia Schisler, executive vice president and chief of strategy at Adagio Health, told the Post-Gazette that most of the patients served by the Pittsburgh nonprofit are in rural areas and that most are not insured or are underinsured. Adagio Health received $5.6 million in Title X aid in 2024.

“The implications of this withholding of funding for Southeastern Pennsylvanians are severe and far reaching,” Ayana Bradshaw, the president and CEO of AccessMatters, said in an email sent to the Pennsylvania Independent. 

AccessMatters is a nonprofit that provides sexual and reproductive health care services to members of marginalized communities across the state. The organization’s Title X Family Planning Program served 61,650 clients in Southeastern Pennsylvania in 2024, according to the email. 

“We are devastated when thinking about the systemic implications this action may have on the health and wellbeing of Pennsylvanians who rely on Title X funded services for their healthcare needs. Title X, the nation’s family planning program, is paramount to people’s access to sexual and reproductive healthcare in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation,” Bradshaw said.