Letter to the Hon. Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services - CT Congressional Delegation, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England Oppose Trump Administration's Planned Changes to Title X Program

Letter

Dear Secretary Azar,

Title X is the country's only initiative dedicated to affordable birth control and reproductive health care. More than four million people -- including nearly 45,000 in Connecticut -- rely on Title X each year. The program is meant to ensure that every person -- regardless of where they live, how much money they make, what their background is, or whether or not they have health insurance -- has access to basic, preventive reproductive health care, such as birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and regular check-ups. Many of our constituents who rely on Title X may not even know it exists, but without it they would not be able to access this essential care.

Despite the success of the Title X program, your administration is trying to completely remake the program so that it no longer focuses on birth control or reproductive health care. Instead, your administration would push our constituents toward abstinence-only programs and block patients from coming to Planned Parenthood. This is illegal, and could have devastating consequences and threaten health care for millions.

In Connecticut, our health centers serve more than 80 percent of people who rely on Title X for birth control, cancer screenings, and other preventive care. Without Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, our state's only Title X grantee, many of our constituents would have nowhere else to go for care. Everyone deserves the right to control their own bodies and future, and to get the care they want and need. We will never stop fighting for birth control and health care for everyone -- not just for those who can afford it. We urge you to maintain the Title X program in its current form, and do not implement the domestic gag rule.