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How Planned Parenthood Refusing Title X Rules Affects Low-Income And Young Patients

A tan hand holding an IUD.
Sarah Mirk / Creative Commons
IUDs are an increasingly popular form of contraception that lasts up to five years. IUDs can also be used to treat heavy periods. Without Title X subsidies, getting an IUD at Planned Parenthood may be too expensive for low-income patients.

Planned Parenthood pulled out of the Title X program Monday after the Department of Health and Human Services ruled that clinics receiving Title X funding may not refer patients to abortion providers. After months of threats, Planned Parenthood refused to abide by the ruling and opted to give up federal money in favor of maintaining abortion services.  In North Carolina, Planned Parenthood affiliates were stripped of federal funding in May. The state health department gave those dollars solely to clinics that do not refer to abortion providers. Title X ensures that low-income and young patients have access to basic, preventive reproductive care.The program subsidizes the costs of STI testing and contraceptives, among other reproductive care options. Without federal subsidies, Planned Parenthood patients are turning to local health departments and religiously-affiliated clinics that abide by the rules. Host Frank Stasio talks with Dr. Katherine Farris, medical director of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Elizabeth Finley, director of strategic communications at SHIFT NC, and Richara Krajewski, board member of the Pro-Life Union of Greater Philadelphia about how the change in federal funding will alter the healthcare landscape of North Carolina.

Grant Holub-Moorman coordinates events and North Carolina outreach for WUNC, including a monthly trivia night. He is a founding member of Embodied and a former producer for The State of Things.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
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