Title X

Established in 1970, Title X was created to provide affordable birth control and reproductive health care to people with low incomes, who couldn’t otherwise afford these services on their own. Federal Title X funding was intended to ensure that every person—regardless of where they live, their income, their background, or whether or not they have health insurance—has access to basic, preventive reproductive health care.

Here’s What the Biden Administration Can Do About Abortion Before Trump Takes Office

Though President-elect Donald Trump has waffled on how his administration might handle abortion policy, antiabortion activists are already exerting a pressure campaign for the incoming Trump administration to take a hardline approach and undo many of the policies set in place by the Biden administration.

Still, with two months left before Biden leaves office, there are some areas where legal scholars and attorneys suggest the outgoing administration could still take action, even if the impact may be narrow or short-lived.

Biden-Harris Administration Proposes Most Significant Expansion of Contraception Coverage Under ACA in Over a Decade

The Biden-Harris administration last week announced a new proposed rule that would significantly expand access to no-cost birth control under the Affordable Care Act. The rule would require private health insurance to cover all forms of contraception without co-pays, including over-the-counter contraceptives.

This expansion of contraception coverage is important in light of steep declines in prescriptions for birth control and emergency contraception in states banning abortion.

Almost 100 Percent of U.S. Women Use Contraception—So Why Doesn’t Birth Control Have More Republican Support?

As if the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the ensuing introduction of total abortion bans in 14 states, isn’t dystopian enough, the United States has become a country where there isn’t enough congressional support for contraception in order to pass a bill protecting the right of patients to use it and the right of providers to prescribe it. This should horrify everyone.

Do Parents Have the Right to Control Their Daughters’ Sexuality?

Title X, the federally funded family planning program that provides confidential family planning services to teens has once again come under attack. In separate lawsuits, two Texas parents have alleged that by allowing their daughters to obtain contraceptives in the absence of their consent, the program has effectively divested them of their “God-given right to ensure their daughters remain virgins until marriage.”

This attack is on Title X is nothing new. The rights of parents to control the upbringing of their children has long been a rallying cry of Christian conservatives as they battle against the ostensible indoctrination of their children “with a secular worldview that amount[s] to a godless religion.” As they see it, a particularly pernicious aspect of this “godless religion” is the belief that  “’teen promiscuity is … normal and acceptable conduct.”

Over the course of four decades, courts have consistently held that although Title X encourages parental involvement, it does not require it based on the recognition that “confidentiality [is] a crucial factor in attracting teenagers to Title X clinics and reducing incidence of teenage pregnancies.”

Which Political Party Is Budgeting for Women’s Futures?

For too many—especially women of color—paychecks aren’t keeping up. Inflation is inching downward, but costs for groceries, childcare and rent feel out of reach.

But congressional fights over taxes and spending are really about fundamental questions: What do women, our families and communities need? What kind of future do we want to build? Recent budget proposals by the Biden administration and Republicans in Congress show how our two major political parties answer those questions. The answers were starkly different, revealing high stakes when it comes to women’s ability to participate in the economy, care for their families and control their own reproductive lives. 

Number of U.S. Abortions Increased 8 Percent During Trump Administration, Reversing 30-Year Trend: ‘The Need for Abortion Care Is Growing’

The number of abortions in the U.S. increased by 8 percent during the Trump-Pence administration. Overall, fewer people became pregnant, but among those who did, a larger proportion chose to have an abortion. About one in five pregnancies in 2020 ended in abortion.

This research reveals a dramatic reversal of a 30-year trend of declining numbers of abortion, “underscoring that the need for abortion care in the United States is growing just as the U.S. Supreme Court appears likely to overturn or gut Roe v. Wade.”

Keeping Score: California Schools to Provide Free Period Products; Title X Gag Rule Reversed; Texas Abortion Ban Reinstated

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In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in in this biweekly round-up.

This week: Biden administration reverses Title X gag rule; federal courts halt, then reinstate Texas’s six-week abortion ban; school districts crack down on BLM and pride flags; Playboy features first gay man on its cover; California overrides workplace NDAs *and* requires free menstrual products in schools; and more.

Trump’s Title X Gag Rule Reversed by HHS: “Patients Deserve Accurate and Comprehensive Information About Their Health Options”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reversed a Trump-era policy prohibiting healthcare providers who receive Title X funds from informing patients about the full range of reproductive healthcare options, including abortion.

“Now, our Title X family planning program can once again function in the way it’s meant to—by providing patients with birth control, STI screenings and cancer screenings that keep them healthy, and by informing them about all their options, including their right to abortion.”