Planned Parenthood of Northern New England says the Trump administration has frozen around $500,000 in family planning funds for its health centers in New Hampshire.
That money – part of the decades-old Title X program – pays for birth control, STI testing, cancer screenings and other non-abortion reproductive health care for low-income patients. In the last fiscal year, around 7,000 people received care through that program across Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s four New Hampshire locations.
The move appears to be part of a larger funding pause. According to POLITICO, the federal government has told at least nine Planned Parenthood affiliates around the country that it’s withholding their funding while it looks into “possible violations” of federal civil rights laws and executive orders on diversity initiatives and immigration.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England – which also operates health centers in Vermont and Maine – said funds are also being withheld from its four health centers in Maine.
The organization has no immediate plans to make changes to patient care, said Kayla Montgomery, its vice president of public affairs. But she said a prolonged lapse in funding could be harder to overcome, especially on top of other financial stresses facing the organization – like the loss of state family planning funds due to Republican opposition.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England warned last year that it was facing a multimillion-dollar deficit and could be forced to curtail services without additional funding.
“All of these things really add up,” Montgomery said. “We are going to do everything we can to continue serving patients in New Hampshire. We will continue serving patients in New Hampshire with quality, affordable health care. But this is difficult.”
Family planning funding has also faced heightened scrutiny at the state level in New Hampshire. In recent years, Republicans on New Hampshire’s Executive Council have blocked the state from distributing federal family planning funds to Planned Parenthood and two independent health centers, because they also provide abortions.
State audits have confirmed none of that money was paying for abortions, but executive councilors have claimed it’s an indirect subsidy.
The state family planning program is also facing an uncertain future. Republican state lawmakers have proposed cutting it entirely as part of the next budget.
