Athens County is one of nine counties in Ohio that will no longer receive Title X funding for reproductive health services, as Planned Parenthood will be denying those funds.
Planned Parenthood will no longer be accepting funds from Title X, a federal grant that provides funds for affordable birth control and reproductive health care to people with low incomes, including those who couldn't otherwise afford health care services.
This is due to a new rule by the Trump administration that makes it illegal for health care providers receiving funds from Title X to refer patients for an abortion, according to the Planned Parenthood website.
“Title X is a federal program that provides subsidies for birth control to women with low incomes. The Trump Administration has instituted a rule that denies this funding to any organization that provides abortions or even just a referral to an abortion provider,” Patricia Stokes, an assistant professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies, said in an email.
The funds will no longer be accepted at Planned Parenthood clinics across the country.
“Planned Parenthood, nationwide, has pulled out of the federal Title X program because they don't want to put that wall up to make it harder for doctors to communicate with patients and to the detriment of care for the patient,” Maxeen Ramlo, the women’s affairs commissioner in Student Senate, said in an email. “The Planned Parenthood in Athens is the only provider that accepts or has accepted the past Title X funding in the county, so it's the only place for people to go for low income people in the whole county.”
The rejection of funds will also affect Ohio University students looking for reproductive or sexual healthcare.
Many students use Planned Parenthood for its sexual health resources rather than the Hudson Health Center in order to preserve their privacy, Ramlo said.
“Since it's a sensitive topic, and usually something people want to keep private, they would rather go to Planned Parenthood and not have it show up on their insurance,” Ramlo said in an email. “So it makes it harder for students to access some of those services like STI/STD testing, pregnancy tests, cancer screenings, HIV tests, etc.”
Although Planned Parenthood does provide referrals to other providers for abortions, not all clinics, including the clinic in Athens, actually provide abortions. They do, however, offer a wide array of reproductive and sexual healthcare resources.
“Most Planned Parenthood clinics do not provide abortions. Nearly all (Planned Parenthood) clinics do provide services aimed at holistic sexual and reproductive health care for women, including pap smears, STI testing and more. Men (can) also access STI testing. Trans people can get hormone prescriptions,” Stokes said in an email.
Over 4 million people receive reproductive healthcare because of Title X annually, according to the Planned Parenthood website.
