CINCINNATI, September 10, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Planned Parenthood locations are closing down, thanks to the Trump administration’s changes to the nation’s Title X family planning program, the New York Times lamented in an editorial bylined by its editorial board.
According to the New York Times, the Trump administration had undermined the federal Title X “family planning program”, thus “making it harder for women’s health clinics to stay afloat and for patients to afford birth control and other services”.
“Three weeks after Planned Parenthood was effectively forced out of the Title X program, the group has announced that two of its clinics in the Cincinnati area will close this month — a fate that Planned Parenthood officials say was accelerated by the administration’s changes to Title X. Those changes include barring clinics that perform or even refer patients for abortions from receiving federal family planning dollars unless they jump through a near-impossible series of hoops,” the New York Times stated in its Sept 9 article.
According to Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio, the Springdale Health Center and Western Hills Health Center in West Price Hill serve more than 6,000 patients a year. They will close by September 20. According to Cincinnati.com, neither of the two locations commits abortions. Planned Parenthood blamed what it has described as a “gag rule” that prevents funding recipients of Title X funding to recommend or advocate for abortion.
Deciding that it will not comply with the new rules, Planned Parenthood will not accept Title X funding. According to media reports, it receives approximately $60 million in Title X funds per year. However, according to a Congressionally-mandated report by the Government Accounting Office, Planned Parenthood received over $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds from 2013 to 2015.
In 2016, Ohio lawmakers defunded Planned Parenthood from several programs through legislation that was upheld by a federal court this year. In Ohio, Planned Parenthood received about $600,000 in state funding in 2018. Planned Parenthood has long held that government funding does not pay for abortions, but pro-life advocates have pointed out that government funding offsets the organization’s operating costs and thus provides indirect support for abortion.
Planned Parenthood CEO Kersha Deibel of Southwest Ohio said that Republican politicians such as Senator Rob Portman and Governor Mike DeWine have long sought to curtail abortion.
“This is the world they want to see: one where women lose access to birth control, where information about how to access abortion is held hostage, and where, if you don’t have money, it’s almost impossible to access an STI test or a cancer screening.”
Ironically, at a press conference outside of Sen. Portman’s office, Deibel said that Ohio is among the worst states in the union in terms of infant mortality. She vowed to continue to fight for abortion.
The New York Times noted that Planned Parenthood is seeking additional donations to cover any shortfall resulting from the loss of government funds. While crediting abortion facilities with “resourcefullness,” the newspaper fears that it is “only a matter of time before more facilities around the country” close their doors.