http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/10/opinion/a-way-to-protect-planned-parenthood-services.html 2016-09-12 15:04:11 A Way to Protect Planned Parenthood Services The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a rule that could stop states from stripping the organization of Title X funds. === Opponents of Planned Parenthood in recent years have cut funding to the organization that goes through the Title X Family Planning Program, which provides federal money for services like contraception, testing for sexually transmitted infections and cancer screenings. (Like all federal programs, it is largely barred from paying for abortions.) State and local governments distribute that money to health care providers, and at least 14 states took actions to cut the share they direct to Planned Parenthood. This month, the Department of Health and Human Services State efforts to strip Planned Parenthood of Title X funds have hurt low-income residents, who are likely to depend on Planned Parenthood clinics for free or low-cost health services. In New Hampshire, for instance, the state’s Executive Council voted in 2011 not to renew Planned Parenthood’s contract under Title X, leaving parts of the state with no federally funded family planning services until the Department of Health and Human Services stepped in with an emergency grant three months later. Fortunately, the council voted in June to restore funding. In 2011, Texas cut its state family planning budget and Title X also provides funding to reduce maternal mortality, which Some state lawmakers have argued that community health centers can easily provide the same family planning services that Planned Parenthood offers. But Planned Parenthood also serves an enormous number of patients; though it operates only 10 percent of all health centers that receive Title X funds, it treats about a third of all patients receiving federally funded family planning services nationwide. The proposed Health and Human Services rule will be open for public comment for 30 days, after which the department will decide whether to issue a final version. If the rule takes effect, it will benefit people all over the country who need reliable reproductive health care.