Feds Freeze Family Planning Funding

Global health funding freeze cuts contraceptive access for millions

On Inauguration Day, Donald Trump and Elon Musk issued an executive action freezing all new foreign assistance grants for 90 days, while the administration assessed whether funded projects aligned with the administration’s values. Four days later, they also issued a “stop work” order for existing global health grants.

The impact was immediate and catastrophic. According to the Guttmacher Institute, during the 90-day freeze, since extended by at least 30 days, 11.7 million women and girls lost access to contraceptives and family planning services. This resulted in an estimated 4.2 million unintended pregnancies and more than 8,000 maternal deaths.

The United States has long been the leading donor to international family planning programs, providing close to 40% of overall donor funding. In 2024, US family planning assistance helped nearly 48 million women and couples get contraceptive supplies and reproductive health care services. It prevented over 17 million unintended pregnancies, more than 5 million unsafe abortions, and 34,000 maternal deaths.

In short, US family planning aid has been among the most successful investments in terms of improving health, expanding educational and economic opportunities for girls and women, protecting and conserving natural resources, and reducing poverty.

In addition to the freeze on bilateral aid, the administration also ended all grants to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). As the world’s largest multilateral provider of reproductive health care, UNFPA works in over 150 countries and is the lead agency when it comes to meeting these critical needs in the aftermath of disasters and in ongoing humanitarian settings.

It’s not just family planning programs being dismantled though. Efforts to provide childhood vaccinations, to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS, and to provide food and nutrition to hungry children are being abandoned. US aid has been, in the words of New York Times columnist Nick Kristof, “the first line of defense against epidemics and pandemics, whether involving bird flu, Ebola, or other diseases.”

The New York Times reported that Musk’s assault on US global health funding halted 13 clinical trials, including one in South Africa for a new device to prevent unintended pregnancy and HIV, leaving patients stranded with drugs and/or devices in their bodies with no monitoring or access to follow-up care.

Like the Global Gag Rule, a policy Trump reimposed in his first week back in office, the funding freeze is both cruel and stupid. It is undermining public health and global stability.

White House withholds Title X domestic family planning grants

On March 31, the administration informed 16 health providers that it was “temporarily withholding” previously awarded grants to provide low-income Americans with family planning and other reproductive health care services though the Title X (ten) program. Among those informed of this news were all nine of the nation’s Planned Parenthood affiliates scheduled to receive a grant. Of the total of 22 grants being frozen, 13 of them were to those Planned Parenthood affiliates.

According to the Trump administration, the grants are being withheld to allow for a review of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies of the private providers — a federal intrusion with massive implications for free speech and the equitable provision of medical care.

Title X was established by the Nixon administration for the purpose of expanding access to contraceptives to low-income Americans. It is the only domestic program with the sole objective of reducing disparities in reproductive health care access.

Like the freeze on international family planning aid, this action will cause real harm. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that well over 800,000 Americans will lose access to Title X supported care in a year should the freeze on grants be made permanent.

Congressional Democrats introduce legislation to protect reproductive health and rights

On February 5, Reps. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) and Angie Craig (D-MN), along with Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), introduced the Right to Contraception Act to prevent federal, state, or local governments from interfering with any individual’s protected right to use the contraceptive method of their choice or the right of health care providers to distribute those methods.

On March 27, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) introduced the Support UNFPA Funding Act to restore funding to the essential UN agency. The bill states, “Access to voluntary contraception and reproductive health care is a cost-effective intervention that enhances women’s economic participation, reduces poverty, and strengthens communities — advancing United States strategic interests,” and calls for a US contribution of “no less than $50 million in fiscal year 2026 and no less than $55 million in fiscal year 2027.” There is no companion bill in the Senate.

“United States support for UNFPA has played a crucial role in bringing essential and often life-saving reproductive health and family planning services to hundreds of millions of people around the world. It has helped provide educational and economic opportunities to girls and women and remains essential to building a more secure, more stable and healthier world for everyone. That’s why this bill is so important. We’re looking forward to working with Rep. Houlahan to pass it and reverse the shortsighted and deeply misguided actions of the administration to eliminate all assistance to UNFPA.”

– Brian Dixon, on behalf of Population Connection Action Fund

Brian Dixon, bdixon@popconnect.org