In a major victory for Granite State patients, a final New Hampshire state budget that includes family planning funding to protect New Hampshire patients from the Trump administration’s Title X gag rule was signed last Thursday.
The budget, which includes state family planning dollars to replace federal funds lost due to the gag rule, is a testament to our state’s longstanding bipartisan commitment to health care access for all, regardless of a person’s income or ZIP code. While the clock is being rolled back on reproductive health in other parts of the country, here in New Hampshire state budget writers and legislative leadership stepped up to protect access to essential reproductive health care.
Title X is the only nationwide family planning program, and for nearly 50 years it has ensured that everyone, including lower-income people, can access critical reproductive health care, including birth control, cancer screenings, and STD testing and treatment. The Title X program successfully served 4 million people each year, including approximately 16,000 people in New Hampshire, until the Trump administration dismantled the program with the gag rule.
The gag rule, which went into effect last spring, is a clear violation of medical ethics – it prohibits referrals for abortion and imposes costly and unnecessary requirements on health centers that provide abortion services or that refer for abortion services. The medical community and public health experts, including major medical associations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association, oppose this rule because it is simply bad for public health.
To be clear, Title X dollars do not cover abortion care, as federal funding of abortion is prohibited by law. The gag rule does nothing to change the longstanding prohibition of using Title X funds for abortion. However, the gag rule will reverse decades of progress and health improvements for vulnerable populations by dramatically reducing their access to reproductive health care.
Ultimately, six of the nine family planning providers in the state were forced out of the Title X program because the gag rule violates medical ethics. This group includes Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Equality Health Center and Lovering Health Center, as well as Federally Qualified Health Centers, which do not provide abortion services. Those of us in the family planning program are all safety-net providers serving populations with barriers to health care and, in many parts of the state, we are patients’ only option for affordable care.
Due to the loss of federal funding, some family planning providers have had to cut staff or services, or both, in order to continue operations. The additional state family planning funding in the budget will help mitigate disruptions to patient care and ensure that all patients can receive the essential health care they need.
While the budget is a major victory for New Hampshire patients, access to reproductive health care should not depend on what state a person lives in. State-by-state fixes are not long-term solutions to the destruction of the Title X family planning program.
We urge Congress to take action to protect care for millions of people across the country. Everyone should be able to access birth control, STD testing and treatment, and cancer screenings, regardless of income or ZIP code, and there is strong support for family planning in New Hampshire and across the country: Recent polling shows that voters in Arizona, Colorado and key swing congressional districts nationwide oppose the Trump administration’s Title X gag rule, and are less likely to support legislators who do not act to block it.
On behalf of all of our patients, we at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Equality Health Center and Lovering Health Center thank New Hampshire budget writers for recognizing the importance of including these additional family planning dollars in the state budget and for fighting for health care access for over 16,000 Granite State patients who count on our services to lead a healthier life.
(Sabrina Dunlap is vice president of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England in Concord. Lisa Leach is executive director of Lovering Health Center in Greenland. Dalia Vidunas is executive director of Equality Health Center in Concord.)