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AUGUSTA — The Trump administration is withholding millions of dollars in federal funding for family planning services and reproductive health care, including $2 million for clinics in Maine. The funding freeze was announced Monday night by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. It said nine of its affiliates received notices from the Trump administration, which appears to be targeting the groups over diversity, equity and inclusion policies, among other things.
The freeze affects Title X, a federal program enacted as a bipartisan measure in 1970 and dedicated to providing affordable birth control, cancer screenings, and other sexual and reproductive health care to people with low incomes. By law, Title X funds cannot be used to fund abortions. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England said in a news release on Tuesday that the action would affect tens of thousands of uninsured and low-income patients who receive family planning services or reproductive health care in Maine and New Hampshire, including for testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV services and behavioral health.
“Once again, politicians are attacking people’s ability to access basic, essential health care,” CEO Nicole Clegg said in a written statement. “The fact that Elon Musk, DOGE and the Trump administration are trying to take away this care speaks to how deeply disconnected he is from the lives and needs of Mainers, Granite Staters and all Americans. “Politicians should not be deciding whether the people in Maine and New Hampshire or anywhere else in this country can get the birth control, cancer screenings or other essential health care they need.
” Clegg said her group, which received $400,000 for Title X services in Maine, is considering all of its options, including asking state lawmakers for additional funding and possibly challenging the administration’s legal authority to withhold the funding. Numerous lawsuits have already been filed challenging the administration’s efforts to freeze or cut federal money approved by Congress. George Hill, president and CEO of Maine Family Planning, said his organization is complying with the terms of its Title X funding and would respond directly to the U.
S. Department of Health and Human Services. The nonprofit uses federal and state funding to subcontract with other sexual and reproductive health care providers and provide access through a total of 63 clinical sites.
Hill said his affiliates, which include 19 Maine Family Planning sites, four Planned Parenthood of Northern New England health centers, eight school-based health centers, and 32 Federally Qualified Health Centers, would continue to provide services, even though the funding cut would increase financial pressure on the network. “The Administration’s dangerous decision to withhold Maine Family Planning’s Title X funds jeopardizes access to critical health care services for thousands of Mainers,” Hill said in a written statement. “Any delay in disbursement of federal grants will have a detrimental effect on our state family planning network and the patients we serve.
” Last year, the network served 31,000 Title X patients, including nearly 6,500 patients served by Planned Parenthood, which accounts for 61% of the patients at its four health centers in Biddeford, Portland, Sanford and Topsham. The U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement to Reuters that it’s withholding payments to 16 organizations while it investigates possible violations of grant terms, including civil rights and and executive order “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders.” “HHS is conducting this evaluation to ensure these entities are in full compliance with federal law and applicable grant terms, and to ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars,” the statement said. This is not the first time Title X funding has been targeted by Trump.
In his first term, Trump adopted a gag rule for Title X funding, preventing doctors from discussing abortions for patients receiving care in the clinics. The rule prompted Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning to temporarily withdraw from the program in 2019. The Biden administration reversed the rule in 2021.
Prior to Trump’s announcement, family planning advocates had already called on Maine lawmakers to pass bill that would provide an additional $6.2 million in funding for services . But Clegg said that additional state funding would only cover the increased cost of providing health services and did not plan for the $2 million loss of federal funding.
“We’re glad that there’s a bill before the Legislature but that was originally intended to address just how expensive it is to provide care now,” she said. A similar bill , calling for $3.4 million a year in funding, did not pass last year.
This year’s bill, LD 143 , comes amid a difficult and contentious budget season at the State House. Gov. Janet Mills has proposed a mix of spending cuts and additional taxes, including increasing the tobacco tax, to preserve her signature policy wins, including expanding MaineCare, providing 55% of public education funding as mandated by voters and fully funding municipal revenue sharing.
Hill said that the bill is more important than ever. “Maine Family Planning will continue to offer the full spectrum of compassionate health care, including abortion care and gender affirming care, which remain legal in Maine,” Hill said. “This federal action creates a new sense of urgency for state elected officials to safeguard Maine’s critical family planning network by funding LD 143.
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