Family Planning Grants Now Include A Five-Year Plan For Agreeing With The Administration

WASHINGTON—The Department of Health and Human Services has opened a five-year competition for family planning grants that requires applicants to align with administration priorities and remain aligned after receiving the money, adding a government planning requirement to the family planning requirement.

The department expects to award up to $257 million across as many as 90 Title X grants. The program funds contraception, infertility services, health screenings and other preventive care, with priority given to low-income patients who have limited access to healthcare. Applicants will now demonstrate that access alongside their ability to follow policy direction from HHS and two of its offices.

Twenty-three states sued in federal court, arguing that the new conditions let the administration withhold congressionally authorized funds from providers and states that do not share its broader political agenda. The complaint says proposals will be evaluated for conformity with agency priorities and recipients must maintain that alignment in their program design and activities throughout the award.

HHS describes Title X as a competitive program for voluntary family planning projects offering a broad range of accepted methods. The new notice preserves that range while supplying a common point of view from which every method can be administered.

The case will determine whether executive policy preferences may function as grant criteria for a program created by Congress. Until then, clinics preparing five-year medical proposals can begin with the most preventive service available: checking which federal priorities may change before the next funding cycle.