Endocrine Society opposes new rule that restricts access to Title X Family Planning Program

Reviewed by James Ives, M.Psych. (Editor)Feb 23 2019

The Endocrine Society objects to the administration's decision to severely restrict access to the Title X Family Planning Program, the nation's only program for affordable birth control and reproductive care.

The Title X program is essential in helping ensure that every person -- regardless of income, identity, or whether or not they have health insurance -- can access basic, preventive reproductive health care, such as birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and well-woman exams. Nearly 500,000 people submitted comments to the administration opposing the dismantling of the Title X program, and it has been denounced by every major medical association.

The Society advocates for continued access to preventive health care, including no-cost hormonal contraception, as outlined in its position statement. No-cost hormonal contraceptive services allow a woman to effectively plan, if, and when, she becomes pregnant. This has a positive impact on families' socioeconomic status and health. The resulting reduction in unplanned pregnancies also has a positive impact on healthcare costs.

The changes to the Title X funding program will threaten women and adolescents' ability to access medically-necessary preventive and reproductive health care in their communities. Federally qualified health centers will also become overwhelmed as the community-based health care centers that have been providing these services are eliminated from Title X eligibility.

By limiting women's access to preventative care, the changes to the Title X funding program finalized by the administration will increase medical costs and cause many women with various disorders to forgo treatment. We urge the administration to eliminate these new eligibility criteria to ensure that all centers qualified to provide these services have equal opportunity to receive Title X grant funding.

Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.