Protestors defend Planned Parenthood and healthcare access in a February, 2017 rally in front of the Planned Parenthood on W. Stadium Blvd. in Ann Arbor. VOICE FILE PHOTO
By Catherine Engstrom-Hadley
Staff Writer
Michigan’s Planned Parenthood is taking a 20% funding cut, over $4.2 million annually, after severing ties with the federal Title X program.
Michigan’s Planned Parenthood currently services 42,000 residents, and 70% of Title X patients.
Title X, introduced by President Nixon in 1970 as a part of the greater Public Health Service Act, functions as the only federal grant designed to prioritize lower income families for family planning services.
For over 50 years, Michigan’s Planned Parenthood has relied on Title X for 20% of its funding.
This past June, the federal court of appeals allowed the Trump administration to enact a policy on companies that receive Title X funding that prohibits them from mentioning abortion to patients, providing abortion referrals or sharing a space with abortion providers.
Currently, 30 providers use Title X funding in Michigan, but Planned Parenthood was the only Title X provider in Washtenaw County.
For more than five Michigan counties, including Washtenaw, Planned Parenthood is the only provider of abortion services.
For Washtenaw County residents, Planned Parenthood was the only Title X provider.
“The idea that patients can just go somewhere else is ridiculous; they really can’t,” said Angela Vasquez-Giroux, director of communications for Planned Parenthood of Michigan.
“Most, if not all, of the other Title X departments are health departments, which have a much lower capacity for patients than we do,” said Vasquez-Giroux.
For Michigan residents who depend on Planned Parenthood, the change will affect the cost of services at the clinic.
“Starting Oct. 1, patients should expect that the sliding fee scale as they have experienced it will change,” said Vasquez-Giroux.
Previously, the sliding fee scale specified service costs to range from donations only to full price, based on income.
“Being a provider through that program meant that we could provide services on the sliding fee scale,” Vasquez-Giroux said. “Without being a part of Title X now, the sliding fee scale will change, we just don’t know how much.”
Michigan became one of 21 states in a joint lawsuit against the new Title X rule.
“While we do not comment on pending litigation, I can say that we continue to work together with our sister states to determine appropriate next steps,” said Dan Olsen, spokesperson for the Michigan attorney general.
Lynn Stufin, a public information officer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said the organization has received official notification from Planned Parenthood that it will be leaving the Title X program because of the new rule.
“MDHHS is reaching out to other providers for interest in operating a Title X family planning program, including local health departments and federally qualified healthcare centers to make sure low-income, uninsured and underinsured people can still access family planning services,” Stufin said.
Michigan’s Planned Parenthood will still be open for business.
“We are open, we can still see you, it’s still our goal still to make sure everyone that needs care can get it,” said Vasquez-Giroux.
