Letter to the Hon. Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services - Urging Biden Administration to Bolster Federal Assistance for NH Family Planning Clinics

Letter

Dear Secretary Becerra:

I write to draw your attention to critical funding shortfalls that are likely to face family planning
health centers in New Hampshire in the months ahead and to request that the United States
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) take action to support these centers through
any available means. I applaud the Department's recent proposed regulation to reverse the so-called "Title X Gag Rule," which prohibits health centers that receive Title X family planning
dollars from being physically connected to providers of abortion services, while also prohibiting
providers in the program from giving patients full information about their health care options.

Specifically, the rule eliminated the prior longstanding program requirement that patients be
provided with nondirective options, counseling and referrals upon request for the full range of
pregnancy options, including prenatal care and delivery; infant care, foster care, or adoption; and
abortion.1 This gag rule poses a serious threat to access to sexual and reproductive health
services in New Hampshire and across the country. I am relieved that the Biden administration is
taking steps to reverse it. However, until the Biden administration's actions are finalized there
will be many health centers in New Hampshire who will be without much-needed grant
resources, after being forced to withdraw from the Title X program due to the gag rule.

In 2019, seven of the ten Title X grantees in New Hampshire had no choice but to exit the
program due to the Title X Gag Rule. To help cover the loss of federal dollars, the New
Hampshire legislature negotiated provisions in the state budget to provide an additional $3.2
million in state-level grant funding to support the program over a two-year period. This state level funding has been critical in filling gaps resulting from the Title X Gag Rule. However, the
New Hampshire legislature has just passed a state budget that grossly underfunds the entire
program by not taking into account the lapse of federal funding. It also contains new restrictions
on funding for the Family Planning Program, which includes unnecessary and time consuming
audits that could result in providers pulling out of the NH Family Planning Program entirely.

Even if HHS operated under a swift timeline and finalized regulations to reverse the Title X Gag
Rule with an effective date prior to Labor Day, the Department would need to then complete a months-long request for proposals process before it could disburse Title X grant funding to
providers that are returning to the program. In New Hampshire, this would create a gap of
several months between the reduction in state-level funding and the restoration of federal Title X
grant funding for the providers. Such a gap in funding would impose financial stress on the
affected health centers and endanger access to health care for the more than 16,000 women in
New Hampshire who rely on these providers for contraception, cervical cancer screenings, breast
cancer screenings and reproductive health services.

To help overcome this funding gap and protect access to care for Granite Staters, I strongly urge
you to work with me and the affected providers in my state to help find an interim funding
solution. Such approaches could include awards of supplemental Title X funding on an expedited
basis immediately upon rescission of the gag rule, or ensuring that the affected centers are
eligible for other forms of financial support from other HHS programs outside of the Title X
family planning program. I stand ready to work with you in identifying potential options and
sources for this vital interim funding.

I am hopeful that together we can work to ensure that these clinics in New Hampshire have the
financial support they need to bridge the gap until they are able to rejoin the Title X family
planning program following the reversal of the Title X Gag Rule.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Source