{"id":227529,"date":"2025-10-15T22:25:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/227529\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T22:25:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:25:18","slug":"how-texas-planned-parenthood-is-surviving-without-public-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/227529\/","title":{"rendered":"How Texas Planned Parenthood is surviving without public funds"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up for The Brief<\/a>, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 30, Planned Parenthood\u2019s Gulf Coast branch in Houston, which ran the organization\u2019s largest clinic in the country, shuttered to merge with another affiliate.<\/p>\n

Anti-abortion groups celebrated this shutdown, saying they were one step closer to pushing the health care provider from the state and, eventually, the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Officials with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast said the move \u2014 which involved closing down two Houston clinics and passing four others to Planned Parenthood Greater Texas \u2014 was a strategy to remain in Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about consolidating resources to meet the moment and continue care where it\u2019s needed most,\u201d said Melaney Linton, who ran the Gulf Coast operation, in a statement to The Texas Tribune. Last year, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast reported a $6 million<\/a> net loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over more than a decade of the Texas Legislature booting Planned Parenthood from various funding programs, the organization has slashed its number of clinics by more than half, merged affiliates and unveiled online services. In Texas, Planned Parenthood now operates 29 clinics plus telehealth.<\/p>\n

With no access to public funding currently, the state\u2019s affiliates lean on donors, their parent organization and private insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year, the federal government took a note from Texas\u2019 playbook and barred Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide from accessing Medicaid reimbursements. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America said it might have to shutter nearly 200 health centers<\/a> as a result \u2014 almost two-thirds of its clinics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlanned Parenthood has already been defunded in Texas. We\u2019ve already done it,\u201d said Amy O\u2019Donnell of Texas Alliance for Life. \u201cWe applaud the federal government and the Trump administration for going after that at a federal level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Texas cut off Planned Parenthood from most of its Medicaid funding in 2013, Planned Parenthood\u2019s affiliates provided reproductive care, including contraception and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, to just under 50,000 patients in one of the state\u2019s government-subsidized women\u2019s health programs \u2014 about 40%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood often lands in political crosshairs because it\u2019s associated with abortion care, which anti-abortion groups say is the nonprofit\u2019s priority and the provider group denies.<\/p>\n

After cutting ties with Planned Parenthood, the Texas Legislature has funneled money into a patchwork of programs that distribute state and federal funds for women\u2019s health: Healthy Texas Women, the Family Planning Program and the Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those programs served 290,000 women in 2023, while Texas\u2019 remaining two Planned Parenthood affiliates \u2014 Greater Texas, which runs clinics from Houston to Lubbock, and South Texas with clinics in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley \u2014 saw more than 130,000 patients that year.<\/p>\n

Anti-abortion advocates say Texas\u2019 services render Planned Parenthood obsolete. While enrollment in these programs remains high, some reproductive rights researchers say Texas\u2019 attempts to remodel its programs without the prominent provider have reduced access to care for low-income Texans, particularly among medically underserved communities. They say Texas still needs the nonprofit source of reproductive care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOther health care providers in the area just were not able to step in and serve the Planned Parenthood patients who lost access to Planned Parenthood as a health care provider,\u201d said Kari White, executive and scientific director of Texas-based Resound Research for Reproductive Health, which examines policies that affect reproductive autonomy. \u201cIt may be that we see something similar happen in other communities across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PlannedPlanned Parenthood\u2019s Houston location June 25, 2022. On Sept. 30, 2025, Planned Parenthood\u2019s Gulf Coast branch in Houston, which ran the organization\u2019s largest clinic in the country, shuttered to merge with another affiliate. Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Texas\u2019 Planned Parenthood has repeatedly consolidated <\/p>\n

The beginning of the end of government funding for Texas\u2019 Planned Parenthood can be traced back to 2011. The Texas Legislature dealt the affiliates a major blow by cutting the state\u2019s family planning budget by two thirds. Specialized family planning providers, including Planned Parenthood, were placed at the bottom of the remaining funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of the 82 family planning clinics that closed the next year, about a third were Planned Parenthood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the first big, significant loss of funding for Planned Parenthood health centers,\u201d said Sarah Wheat of Planned Parenthood Greater Texas, which operates 22 clinics in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also that year came another crippling cut. Texas lost roughly $30 million in annual <\/a>federal funding because officials tried to exclude Planned Parenthood and other health providers whose services include abortion from federal Medicaid money. After the Obama administration rejected the request and Texas pulled out of the federal program, Texas created its own subsidized women\u2019s health program and cut off Planned Parenthood starting in 2013.<\/p>\n

Over the next few years, Texas continued to whittle away at Planned Parenthood\u2019s funding, denying the clinics of all Medicaid reimbursements<\/a>, regardless of the program a patient wanted to use, in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And finally this year, the Trump administration pinched off what government funding is left for Texas Planned Parenthoods, rescinding more than $2 million<\/a> they had won from Title X federal grants for family planning and preventive health services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the state first restricted its funding, Planned Parenthood\u2019s eight branches and at least 66 clinics<\/a> have shrunk to two affiliates and 29 clinics, concentrated in urban hubs.<\/p>\n

Vast areas have no reproductive care providers, and some counties have fewer than ten after funding cuts shuttered Planned Parenthood and other women\u2019s health centers. Planned Parenthood clinics are part of the \u201csafety net\u201d for reproductive care, particularly for uninsured Texans, Wheat said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarah Wheat, chief external affairs officer for Planned Parenthood Greater Texas, poses for a portrait in Austin on Oct. 1, 2025. Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Wheat\u2019s Greater Texas formed in a 2012 merger of three arms and now primarily serves Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. Affiliates that have closed and merged with others include Lubbock, West Texas, Hidalgo County and \u2014 as of this month \u2014 Gulf Coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To make up for the loss of Planned Parenthood clinics in those areas, Texas\u2019 two affiliates launched telemedicine in 2018 and 2020 to offer services including birth control, clinician consultations and gender affirming hormones. In 2023, Greater Texas conducted 14% of its appointments online.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a smaller community, you\u2019re going to be seeing fewer patients, just by nature,\u201d Wheat said. \u201cWe cannot financially operate every health center that we would like to, and so then it really requires taking a hard look at, well, where can we serve the most patients?\u201d<\/p>\n

Access to care after Planned Parenthood defunding <\/p>\n

When Texas removed Planned Parenthood from its women\u2019s health programs, many of the nonprofit\u2019s low-income patients had to find a new provider.<\/p>\n

Anti-abortion advocates say Texans have not been harmed by the loss of Planned Parenthood because of the state\u2019s heavy investment in its three subsidized health programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since 2021, those programs have served around 315,000 clients each year \u2014 about the same number as Texas\u2019 state and federally funded reproductive care programs saw in 2010, before gutting its family planning budget and asking to remove Planned Parenthood from the federal funding program. Texas allocated more than $460 million<\/a> to its women\u2019s health programs for 2026-27.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need Planned Parenthood in Texas to offer true health care for women; we\u2019ve got that covered through what\u2019s been appropriated in our state through the Healthy Texas Women program,\u201d said O\u2019Donnell of Texas Alliance for Life. \u201cThat\u2019s not to say that we can\u2019t do more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Healthy Texas Women and the state-funded Family Planning Program offer reimbursement for the same services Planned Parenthood provides. While patients can access that care at the 3,000 providers in these programs, the sizable chunk who used to seek reproductive care at Planned Parenthood have had to go elsewhere, said White of Resound Research. Combined with the closure of many Planned Parenthood clinics, the result has been less access to reproductive care.<\/p>\n

\"InformedInformed consent forms at Planned Parenthood in Austin, Texas on October 1, 2025. Montinique Monroe for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

More than a decade after Texas\u2019 first jab at Planned Parenthood\u2019s funding, the proportion of those enrolled in Healthy Texas Women who got care through it dropped to 59% from 90%, according to a report from Every Texan<\/a>, a nonprofit research organization. Contraceptive use was especially hard hit, with a decrease in use by enrollees of more than half.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funding that is available for women\u2019s health services in Texas and family planning services has just not been enough to meet the demand,\u201d White said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2020, the Trump administration reinstated Medicaid funding for Texas\u2019 primary health program for low-income women, now called Healthy Texas Women, despite it still excluding Planned Parenthood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The move expanded the application from two pages to 13 and caused the program\u2019s rates of approval to plummet, according to a study that surveyed 600 patients<\/a> who were eligible for Healthy Texas Women. The Medicaid program denied almost half of its applicants that year, leaving some waiting up to 90 days for a decision, according to reporting from The Nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such \u201crepeated and dramatic\u201d upheavals to Texas\u2019 reproductive health programs have reduced access to care, especially among underserved populations, White said. Her research has shown that other providers cannot fill the gap left by Planned Parenthood, White said.<\/p>\n

This year, the state aimed to patch up the holes in reproductive care access by increasing the women\u2019s health budget by $13 million and adding a new provision to shorten the application<\/a> for Healthy Texas Women. White said the increased funding and shorter application may help more Texans access care.<\/p>\n

\"PlannedPlanned Parenthood in Austin, Texas on October 1, 2025. Montinique Monroe for Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there are a lot of lessons to be learned from the Texas experience,\u201d White said. \u201cDespite all of these efforts by the state to exclude Planned Parenthood from a diverse set of funding sources, there are still Planned Parenthood health centers that are here providing care to people in Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

How Planned Parenthood in Texas is surviving<\/p>\n

Texas\u2019 Planned Parenthood affiliates have altered their services, administrative structures and funding sources, but they have no plans to change their name.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of the nonprofit\u2019s affiliates rebranded<\/a> in 2012 after the national federation mandated that they provide abortion if they are in a state where it\u2019s permitted. But Wheat and Laura Terrill of Planned Parenthood South Texas aim to keep the Planned Parenthood brand. The organization\u2019s national federation offers affiliates name recognition, grant opportunities, guidelines, technical support and advocacy, they said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Texas, and now federally, legislation barring Planned Parenthood operations from Medicaid reimbursement has cited their affiliation with abortion providers. Texas\u2019 Planned Parenthoods stopped providing abortions before the Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u2019s Health decision allowed the state\u2019s abortion ban to take effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s Planned Parenthood clinics now refer patients for abortions outside the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept of controversy, I mean, it\u2019s been part of Planned Parenthood since day one,\u201d Wheat said. \u201cThat is not new to have politicians dictating what choices and what resources and what health care women receive \u2026 today, it just looks different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America gave $2.36 million and $1.66 million in grants to its Greater Texas and South Texas affiliates, respectively, according to the federation\u2019s tax filings<\/a>. Texas\u2019 Planned Parenthoods have boosted marketing to insured patients, and they\u2019ve drawn on private funds to continue offering subsidized and free care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, the South Texas branch provided more than $2 million in financial assistance<\/a>, and it launched a voucher program<\/a> for free services, like birth control and STI testing and treatment.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the affiliate\u2019s most recent maneuver to keep providing Texans subsidized care, even without state or federal support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fond of saying that we\u2019re here for good, and we mean that as a double entendre,\u201d Terrill said. \u201cWe\u2019re here for good to provide good services and the wellness that people need, and the permanency of that is also very much intended.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Every Texan and Planned Parenthood have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival<\/a>, happening Nov. 13\u201315 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas\u2019 most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now<\/a> and join us this November.<\/p>\n

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[28960,97,127234,252,253,30578,127235],"class_list":["post-227529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-abortion","tag-health","tag-health-and-human-services-commission","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-planned-parenthood","tag-well-a-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}