NEW YORK \u2014 New York is leading a 23-state lawsuit challenging new Trump administration conditions attached to federal family planning funding, arguing the requirements could threaten access to preventive healthcare for hundreds of thousands of patients statewide.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Letitia James is leading the challenge to new conditions tied to Title X, the federal grant program dedicated to family planning and related preventive health services.<\/p>\n
In New York, Title X supports 165 health centers serving more than 250,000 patients. The state receives about $11.1 million annually through the program, according to the attorney general\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
The dispute centers on new requirements issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in July for the next five-year Title X grant cycle.<\/p>\n
New York\u2019s lawsuit challenges conditions tied to Trump administration policies involving diversity, equity and inclusion, gender-related care, contraception, natural family planning, marriage and parenthood.<\/p>\n
The state argues the federal government does not have the legal authority to condition Title X funding on those policy priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe fought to protect Title X during the first Trump administration, and today we are going back to court to defend it again,\u201d James said in a statement. \u201cThe administration keeps trying to use federal funding to force states to carry out its agenda, and time and again, we have stopped them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Title X has operated for more than 50 years and helps support services including contraception, pregnancy testing, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, cancer screenings and other preventive care, particularly for low-income and uninsured patients.<\/p>\n
The attorney general\u2019s office says losing the funding could eventually lead to staffing cuts and reduced contracts with healthcare providers.<\/p>\n
Providers in Western New York say those federal dollars translate directly into access to care.<\/p>\n
A representative from the Community Health Center of Buffalo told Spectrum News many of its patients live below the federal poverty line and have few other options for care.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of our patients are below the federal poverty line. They don\u2019t have access to care through other means. This funding is really important to help keep this service going.\u201d<\/p>\n
The representative said Title X-supported services extend well beyond contraception.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people think it\u2019s contraception, family planning, but it\u2019s also health, sexually transmitted infections, cancer screenings, things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York, providers say Title X can also help patients access contraception they may otherwise struggle to afford.<\/p>\n
Asked what Title X means for a woman seeking birth control who cannot afford it on her own, a Planned Parenthood representative said the program provides patients with more control over their reproductive health choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Title X, in that case, just means empowerment to choose the best method of birth control, family planning, best for the person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federal law does not allow Title X funds to be used for abortion as a method of family planning.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit is also drawing political reaction from members of New York\u2019s congressional delegation.<\/p>\n
Democratic Rep. Tim Kennedy is backing James\u2019 challenge and accusing the administration of using healthcare funding to pressure states that disagree with its policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis blatantly unconstitutional attempt to tie New York\u2019s hands threatens the care of hundreds of thousands of patients who rely on Title X funding as a healthcare lifeline,\u201d Kennedy said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Kennedy also said New Yorkers should not have their healthcare used as a \u201cbargaining chip.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Maryland and remains in its early stages.<\/p>\n
There has been no final ruling, and patients are not currently losing Title X services because of the case.<\/p>\n
New York is asking the court to block the new conditions before they affect the next funding cycle.<\/p>\n
Spectrum News also reached out to Republican Rep. Nick Langworthy for comment on the new requirements and the lawsuit but did not immediately receive a response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 New York is leading a 23-state lawsuit challenging new Trump administration conditions attached to federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[113,120066,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,112,108,87,200],"class_list":["post-336571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-buffalo","tag-nai-remy","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news","tag-ny-state-of-politics","tag-ny-state-of-politics-blog","tag-politics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}