Family planning clinics continue despite cuts, Planned Parenthood closure

CHEYENNE - Family planning agencies want to remind Wyoming residents that low-cost reproductive health services are still available in the state - despite talk of federal funding cuts. 

After the Trump administration announced proposed changes to the federal Title X family planning grant program last month, some in Wyoming are now unsure how the announcement affects the state’s most vulnerable populations.

The program provides exams and contraceptive services, as well as screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases in women and men. It became law in 1970 through the Public Health Service Act.

The Wyoming Health Council, a private nonprofit in Cheyenne, is the state’s primary Title X recipient, disseminating funds to 10 statewide clinics.

Susie Markus, executive director of the Wyoming Health Council, said she has received multiple inquiries about possible funding cuts from concerned residents. 

“We currently have our funding, and all of our services are still intact,” she said. “We just wrote a grant for three more years of funding that would last until August 2021. Some people think this is a done deal, but there is no end to Title X yet. There are just proposed changes that may or may not affect us. Right now, it is still ambiguous.”

The program primarily serves low-income men and women, providing free contraceptives and resources to those unable to afford traditional care. Services are provided free of charge to clients living with incomes at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level.

Other services include community referrals for mental health needs, substance abuse, tobacco cessation, intimate partner violence, human trafficking, sexual violence, reproductive coercion, abuse and neglect. 

Trump’s new rules would require Title X services be financially separate from abortion services, specifically targeting Planned Parenthood, the most high-profile recipient of this funding. The rules would eliminate the requirement that women with unintended pregnancies be counseled on their full range of reproductive options and would ban abortion referrals.

“Our funding always seems to be under fire one way or another,” said Grace Ferguson, a registered nurse who volunteers at facilities that receive Title X funds. “Even if these new rules do pass, it is still unclear whether or not we will lose anything.”

It is not permitted to use Title X funds for abortions, and - while Wyoming Health Council facilities do provide non-directional counseling to those with unintended pregnancies - associated clinics do not make abortion referrals. 

“We cannot do any of that,” Markus said. “We are preventing abortions through education and contraceptives, and preventing unintended teen pregnancy. When you have this negative stigma, it keeps people from coming because they might feel ashamed or confused about what we offer.” 

Because Wyoming no longer has a Planned Parenthood in the state, all Title X recipient agencies are City-County Health units or private nonprofits. Wyoming’s only Planned Parenthood closed last year for financial reasons. 

If funding is eventually reduced, Markus said she is confident the clinics will remain in operation thanks to additional funding. Other sources of revenue come from the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, Wyoming Department of Health, United Way of Laramie County and private funds.

“We are strong,” Markus said. “I think we will be able to keep going if we do lose those resources.”