California Gov. Gavin Newsom reacted angrily to President Donald Trump shutting down federal funds that went to abortions provided by Planned Parenthood.
In a press release, the abortion provider confirmed that nine of its affiliates were informed that the Trump administration would temporarily withhold their Title X funding over possible violations of Trump’s executive orders.
Newsom decried the order on social media:
“Woke up this morning to the Trump Administration freezing ALL of CA’s Title X funding,” he wrote.
“It’s a Republican-founded program — Richard Nixon of all people established it in 1970. This is just plain cruel.”
Newsom said Title X funds paid for “basic reproductive care,” including birth control, cancer screenings, and STD testing.
The executive order, which Trump signed in January, ended “the use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”
Planned Parenthood was also suspected of violating Trump’s prohibitions against diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, including providing abortion services to illegal aliens.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund CEO and President Alexis McGill claimed the action would lead to a deterioration in women’s health.
“President Trump and Elon Musk are pushing their dangerous political agenda, stripping health care access from people nationwide, and not giving a second thought to the devastation they will cause,” said McGill.
“We know what happens when health care providers cannot use Title X funding: People across the country suffer, cancers go undetected, access to birth control is severely reduced, and the nation’s STI crisis worsens,” she claimed.
Shelby McMichael, communications manager of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said:
“Given the first Trump Administration’s actions to restrict Title X and force abortion providers like Planned Parenthood out of the program, and the subsequent reversal of those rules under the Biden Administration, we know that the temporary withholding of California’s Title X funds means that access to critical family planning services is once again threatened, with real, serious impacts on patients and providers.”
KCRA reported:
McMichael said the organization would call on the state to take action and make investments to preserve reproductive freedom.
McMichael also noted that California’s Title X network served more than 500,000 patients last year.
Beyond California, the Title X program provided essential services for more than 4 million people across the U.S. in 2018.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declined to say which laws or executive orders the groups are being investigated for violating, though the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association said some of the letters cited civil rights laws.
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