Attorney General Tong Urges Trump Administration to Restore Title X Funding

Press Releases

05/01/2025

Attorney General Tong Urges Trump Administration to Restore Title X Funding

Today marks one month since HHS suddenly decided to withhold vast amounts of Title X funding

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in sending a letter to the Trump Administration to express serious concern with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) decision to withhold tens of millions of dollars in Title X funding. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon, Title X is the nation’s only federal program dedicated to family planning for low-income and uninsured individuals. On March 31, HHS issued letters to a wide range of grant recipients that fund nearly 25 percent of all Title X clinics, indicating that these grantees’ Title X grants were being withheld. In today’s letter, the attorneys general write that the withholding of funds will lead to more unintended pregnancies, more sexually transmitted infections (STIs), increased rates of undiagnosed HIV, increased rates of cervical cancer, and a higher burden on over-stretched state budgets. The attorneys general urge HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to immediately reverse this decision and fully fund these critical programs.

“There is no role for partisan pandering and interference when it comes to our healthcare. Withholding Title X funding to clinics in Connecticut will only make it harder for patients to access contraception, primary care and STI screenings. It’s yet another politically motivated move by this President to make us sicker and poorer, and there’s no justification for it,” said Attorney General Tong.

In certain States — including California, Hawai‘i, and Maine — all Title X funds were withheld, meaning that Title X funding has now completely ceased in those States. Everywhere, States must scramble to fill the gaps as healthcare providers who have long been a cornerstone of the Title X program have been suddenly shut out. If State and local governments are not able to make up for the federal shortfall, patients will see a reduction in services as clinics close and providers are terminated. This will fall particularly hard on poor and rural communities that are the primary beneficiaries of the Title X program. In many areas, a Title X clinic is the only source of pre-natal services and screening for STIs.

In Connecticut, $1.89 million in Title X funds have been withheld from Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. Through the Title X program, each year approximately 42,000 Connecticut patients receive both reproductive healthcare and primary care at clinics operated by PPSNE, including contraception, STI testing, cancer screenings and other primary care. Planned Parenthood has never used Title X funds to provide abortion care to patients.

In the letter, the attorneys general write that:

• Recent history demonstrates that cutting Title X grantees will worsen care. In 2019, the Trump Administration changed the rules governing Title X, leading to a mass loss of healthcare providers. As a result, the number of patients receiving Title X services fell drastically. Nationwide, the number of Title X patients fell more than 60%, from 3.9 million to 1.5 million. This recent history demonstrates what happens — and how quickly — when the federal government slashes access to Title X. Unfortunately, there is every reason to think that the Trump Administration’s recent withholding will have at least as bad an impact on patient care. In total, the Guttmacher Institute estimates that as a direct result of HHS’s action in withholding funds, at least 834,000 patients, representing 30% of the total population served, will lose care in the first year alone.

• The States will be harmed by HHS’s decision. While the 2019 rule was in effect, many States were forced to make emergency appropriations to cover for the loss of providers. The States made these expenditures because Title X programs are a critical component of vital public health infrastructure. An important example is the role of Title X programs in detecting and preventing STIs. Between 2006 and 2010, 18% of all women who were tested, treated, or received counseling for an STI did so at a Title X clinic, as did 14% of women tested for HIV. Now, the States are once again faced with an impossible choice: dip once again into depleted public coffers to make up the difference, or deal with a surge in new STIs and unintended pregnancies.

• There is no justification for the terminations. Although HHS suggested Title X grantees violated federal civil rights laws, HHS has provided absolutely no evidence supporting this suggestion.

In sending today’s letter, Attorney General Tong joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The letter was co-led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Hawai‘i Attorney General Anne E. Lopez.

A copy of the letter can be found here.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

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Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

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