Federal Title X funds account for about half of the Central Montana Family Planning clinic’s budget, says Director Sue Irvin.
“Title X is vital to the success of our program, to the women and men that we serve, teens, kids, in six counties.”
The clinic is one of 20 across the state whose funding is in limbo after the Trump Administration paused it to review programs’ compliance with new federal orders.
Irvin’s clinic is a service through the Fergus County Health Department in Lewistown. It offers birth control, cancer screenings, pregnancy tests, vaccinations, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and counseling and education.
Other clinics that receive Title X funds also offer infertility treatment, genetic testing and abortion services, although Title X funds cannot be used to cover abortion-related costs. The services are offered on a sliding fee scale and often benefit low-income patients.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified some grant recipients that their annual grants are on hold – the day before they were supposed to arrive on April 1.
Irvin said her clinic has a contingency plan in place to withstand a funding shortfall for upwards of six months.
“We have good support, stuff is not stopping, doors are open and we’re here to provide care.”
Most Title X grants are awarded to state health departments for distribution to smaller, regional clinics. But the Biden Administration rerouted some of those grants to several Planned Parenthood affiliates and nonprofit health care providers in conservative states. Sixteen out of those 86 recipients are now targeted in the funding freeze. That includes Montana.
The state Legislature passed a law in 2021 adding abortion restrictions for clinics applying for Title X funds through the state health department. In 2022, the Bozeman nonprofit clinic Bridgercare was awarded the federal grant contract instead, so the state law did not apply.
Stephanie McDowell is executive director of Bridgercare. She says the federal government has given the organization 10 days to prove that it is in compliance.
“We are cooperating with HHS to provide information and ensure that health care services remain available for our most vulnerable Montanans.”
That compliance check includes Bridgercare’s subrecipient clinics across the state, like Central Montana Family Planning. McDowell said the federal government has not said how long the grant will be frozen.
Congress approved the Title X funds in its continuing budget resolution in March.
