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The Trump administration said Wednesday it would shorten the funding period for family planning organizations that receive Title X grants, suggesting that it hopes to officially introduce regulations barring those groups from referring women to abortion care providers. (Photo: ProgressOhio/Flickr/cc)
Weeks after the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department announced that nearly 100 organizations would continue receiving government funding for reproductive health services they provide to low-income Americans, the Trump administration said Wednesday that those funds will expire in March 2019--drastically shortening the funding period for Title X recipients.
Title X funding, which groups including Planned Parenthood use to offer affordable breast cancer screenings, STD testing, and routine gynecological care to low income patients, generally lasts for three years before organizations have to re-apply.
"By pushing the gag rule, HHS is trying to undermine a program that four million people depend on for essential reproductive health care." --Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood
The move shortening the current funding period to just seven months was taken by some reproductive rights advocates as a sign that the Trump administration is aiming to cut funding to Title X recipients.
The seven-month funding period could be acting as a stop-gap until the administration finalizes the "domestic gag rule" it announced it was pursuing in May. The rule would forbid organizations that receive the government funds from referring patients to abortion care providers and eliminate a requirement that clinics tell patients that abortion is an option in the case of an unwanted pregnancy.
"Even as HHS announces these important grants for healthcare, it is rushing to finalize a domestic gag rule that would take that care away," Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told The Hill. "By pushing the gag rule, HHS is trying to undermine a program that four million people depend on for essential reproductive health care."
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is currently reviewing the Trump administration's planned rule.
The shortened funding period will also disrupt operations for groups like Planned Parenthood and force them to compete for funding more frequently instead of focusing on their mission to provide low-income Americans with care.
"Shortened and inconsistent program grant cycles that force Title X entities to semi-annually compete for funding causes undue administrative burden, detracting from healthcare providers' daily work of delivering high-quality preventive health care in communities across the country," Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, told The Hill.
Trump's step toward stripping clinics of government funding comes a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that STD rates in the U.S. climbed to a record level in 2017, with public health experts blaming funding cuts for prevention services.
\u201cRemember when congress passed a law (and Trump signed it) giving states the option of denying funds to Planned Parenthood? Now we see a record number of STDs in the country. Coincidence? \ud83e\udd14 The attacks on @PPFA need to stop! https://t.co/LBbffZgbQi\u201d— Eric Rosswood (@Eric Rosswood) 1535551795
"We all understand that you've got to maintain your bridges and your roads--and you see them on TV when they crumble," Michael Fraser, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, told NPR. "You don't always see a crumbling public health infrastructure."
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Weeks after the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department announced that nearly 100 organizations would continue receiving government funding for reproductive health services they provide to low-income Americans, the Trump administration said Wednesday that those funds will expire in March 2019--drastically shortening the funding period for Title X recipients.
Title X funding, which groups including Planned Parenthood use to offer affordable breast cancer screenings, STD testing, and routine gynecological care to low income patients, generally lasts for three years before organizations have to re-apply.
"By pushing the gag rule, HHS is trying to undermine a program that four million people depend on for essential reproductive health care." --Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood
The move shortening the current funding period to just seven months was taken by some reproductive rights advocates as a sign that the Trump administration is aiming to cut funding to Title X recipients.
The seven-month funding period could be acting as a stop-gap until the administration finalizes the "domestic gag rule" it announced it was pursuing in May. The rule would forbid organizations that receive the government funds from referring patients to abortion care providers and eliminate a requirement that clinics tell patients that abortion is an option in the case of an unwanted pregnancy.
"Even as HHS announces these important grants for healthcare, it is rushing to finalize a domestic gag rule that would take that care away," Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told The Hill. "By pushing the gag rule, HHS is trying to undermine a program that four million people depend on for essential reproductive health care."
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is currently reviewing the Trump administration's planned rule.
The shortened funding period will also disrupt operations for groups like Planned Parenthood and force them to compete for funding more frequently instead of focusing on their mission to provide low-income Americans with care.
"Shortened and inconsistent program grant cycles that force Title X entities to semi-annually compete for funding causes undue administrative burden, detracting from healthcare providers' daily work of delivering high-quality preventive health care in communities across the country," Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, told The Hill.
Trump's step toward stripping clinics of government funding comes a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that STD rates in the U.S. climbed to a record level in 2017, with public health experts blaming funding cuts for prevention services.
\u201cRemember when congress passed a law (and Trump signed it) giving states the option of denying funds to Planned Parenthood? Now we see a record number of STDs in the country. Coincidence? \ud83e\udd14 The attacks on @PPFA need to stop! https://t.co/LBbffZgbQi\u201d— Eric Rosswood (@Eric Rosswood) 1535551795
"We all understand that you've got to maintain your bridges and your roads--and you see them on TV when they crumble," Michael Fraser, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, told NPR. "You don't always see a crumbling public health infrastructure."
Weeks after the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department announced that nearly 100 organizations would continue receiving government funding for reproductive health services they provide to low-income Americans, the Trump administration said Wednesday that those funds will expire in March 2019--drastically shortening the funding period for Title X recipients.
Title X funding, which groups including Planned Parenthood use to offer affordable breast cancer screenings, STD testing, and routine gynecological care to low income patients, generally lasts for three years before organizations have to re-apply.
"By pushing the gag rule, HHS is trying to undermine a program that four million people depend on for essential reproductive health care." --Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood
The move shortening the current funding period to just seven months was taken by some reproductive rights advocates as a sign that the Trump administration is aiming to cut funding to Title X recipients.
The seven-month funding period could be acting as a stop-gap until the administration finalizes the "domestic gag rule" it announced it was pursuing in May. The rule would forbid organizations that receive the government funds from referring patients to abortion care providers and eliminate a requirement that clinics tell patients that abortion is an option in the case of an unwanted pregnancy.
"Even as HHS announces these important grants for healthcare, it is rushing to finalize a domestic gag rule that would take that care away," Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told The Hill. "By pushing the gag rule, HHS is trying to undermine a program that four million people depend on for essential reproductive health care."
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is currently reviewing the Trump administration's planned rule.
The shortened funding period will also disrupt operations for groups like Planned Parenthood and force them to compete for funding more frequently instead of focusing on their mission to provide low-income Americans with care.
"Shortened and inconsistent program grant cycles that force Title X entities to semi-annually compete for funding causes undue administrative burden, detracting from healthcare providers' daily work of delivering high-quality preventive health care in communities across the country," Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, told The Hill.
Trump's step toward stripping clinics of government funding comes a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that STD rates in the U.S. climbed to a record level in 2017, with public health experts blaming funding cuts for prevention services.
\u201cRemember when congress passed a law (and Trump signed it) giving states the option of denying funds to Planned Parenthood? Now we see a record number of STDs in the country. Coincidence? \ud83e\udd14 The attacks on @PPFA need to stop! https://t.co/LBbffZgbQi\u201d— Eric Rosswood (@Eric Rosswood) 1535551795
"We all understand that you've got to maintain your bridges and your roads--and you see them on TV when they crumble," Michael Fraser, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, told NPR. "You don't always see a crumbling public health infrastructure."
While acknowledging that "hunger is a real issue in Gaza," the US ambassador to the UN repeated a debunked claim that the world's leading authority on starvation lowered its standards to declare a famine.
Every member nation of the United Nations Security Council except the United States on Wednesday affirmed that Israel's engineered famine in Gaza is "man-made" as 10 more Palestinians died of starvation amid what UN experts warned is a worsening crisis.
Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members issued a joint statement calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire, release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas, and lifting of all Israeli restrictions on aid delivery into the embattled strip, where hundreds of Palestinians have died from starvation and hundreds of thousands more are starving.
"Famine in Gaza must be stopped immediately," they said. "Time is of the essence. The humanitarian emergency must be addressed without delay and Israel must reverse course."
"We express our profound alarm and distress at the IPC data on Gaza, published last Friday. It clearly and unequivocally confirms famine," the statement said, referring to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification's declaration of Phase 5, or a famine "catastrophe," in the strip.
"We trust the IPC's work and methodology," the 14 countries declared. "This is the first time famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East region. Every day, more persons are dying as a result of malnutrition, many of them children."
"This is a man-made crisis," the statement stresses. "The use of starvation as a weapon of war is clearly prohibited under international humanitarian law."
Israel, which is facing a genocide case at the UN's International Court of Justice, denies the existence of famine in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Court of Justice for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and forced starvation.
The 14 countries issuing the joint statement are: Algeria, China, Denmark, France, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Somalia, and the United Kingdom.
While acknowledging that "hunger is a real issue in Gaza and that there are significant humanitarian needs which must be met," US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea rejected the resolution and the IPC's findings.
"We can only solve problems with credibility and integrity," Shea told the Security Council. "Unfortunately, the recent report from the IPC doesn't pass the test on either."
Shea also repeated the debunked claim that the IPC's "normal standards were changed for [the IPC famine] declaration."
The Security Council's affirmation that the Gaza famine is man-made mirrors the findings of food experts who have accused Israel of orchestrating a carefully planned campaign of mass starvation in the strip.
The UN Palestinian Rights Bureau and UN humanitarian officials also warned Wednesday that the famine in Gaza is "only getting worse."
"Over half a million people currently face starvation, destitution, and death," the humanitarian experts said. "By the end of September, that number could exceed 640,000."
"Failure to act now will have irreversible consequences," they added.
Wednesday's UN actions came as Israel intensified Operation Gideon's Chariots 2, the campaign to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse around 1 million Palestinians from Gaza, possibly into a reportedly proposed concentration camp that would be built over the ruins of the southern city of Rafah.
The Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) on Wednesday reported 10 more Palestinian deaths "due to famine and malnutrition" over the past 24 hours, including two children, bringing the number of famine victims to at least 313, 119 of them children.
All told, Israel's 691-day assault and siege on Gaza has left at least 230,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, according to the GHM.
"What would the reaction would be if an Arab state wrote this about synagogues and Jews?" asked one critic.
Israel faced backlash this week after its Arabic-language account on the social media site X published a message warning Europeans to take action against the proliferation of mosques and "remove" Muslims from their countries.
"In the year 1980, there were only fewer than a hundred mosques in Europe. As for today, there are more than 20,000 mosques. This is the true face of colonization," posted Israel, a settler-colonial state whose nearly 2 million Muslim citizens face widespread discrimination, and where Palestinians in the illegally occupied territories live under an apartheid regime.
"This is what is happening while Europe is oblivious and does not care about the danger," the post continues. "And the danger does not lie in the existence of mosques in and of themselves, for freedom of worship is one of the basic human rights, and every person has the right to believe and worship his Lord."
"The problem lies in the contents that are taught in some of these mosques, and they are not limited to piety and good deeds, but rather focus on encouraging escalating violence in the streets of Europe, and spreading hatred for the other and even for those who host them in their countries, and inciting against them instead of teaching love, harmony, and peace," Israel added. "Europe must wake up and remove this fifth column."
Referring to the far-right Alternative for Germany party, Berlin-based journalist James Jackson replied on X that "even the AfD don't tweet, 'Europe must wake up and remove this fifth column' over a map of mosques."
Other social media users called Israel's post "racist" and "Islamophobic," while some highlighted the stark contrast between the way Palestinians and Israelis treat Christian people and institutions.
Others noted that some of the map's fearmongering figures misleadingly showing a large number of mosques indicate countries whose populations are predominantly or significantly Muslim.
"Russia has 8,000 mosques? Who would've known a country with millions of Muslim Central Asians and Caucasians would need so many!" said one X user.
Israel's post came amid growing international outrage over its 691-day assault and siege on Gaza, which has left more than 230,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and hundreds of thousands more starving and facing ethnic cleansing as Operation Gideon's Chariots 2—a campaign to conquer, occupy, and "cleanse" the strip—ramps up amid a growing engineered famine that has already killed hundreds of people.
Israel is facing an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, are fugitives form the International Criminal Court, where they are wanted for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder and forced starvation.
European nations including Belgium, Ireland, and Spain are supporting the South Africa-led ICJ genocide case against Israel. Since October 2023, European countries including Belgium, France, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, and Spain have either formally recognized Palestinian statehood or announced their intention to do so.
"This is unfathomable discrimination against immigrants that will cost our country lives," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
The Trump administration is reportedly putting new restrictions on nonprofit organizations that would bar them from helping undocumented immigrants affected by natural disasters.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is "now barring states and volunteer groups that receive government funds from helping undocumented immigrants" while also requiring these groups "to cooperate with immigration officials and enforcement operations."
Documents obtained by the paper reveal that all volunteer groups that receive government money to help in the wake of disasters must not "operate any program that benefits illegal immigrants or incentivizes illegal immigration." What's more, the groups are prohibited from "harboring, concealing, or shielding from detection illegal aliens" and must "provide access to detainees, such as when an immigration officer seeks to interview a person who might be a removable alien."
The order pertains to faith-based aid groups such as the Salvation Army and Red Cross that are normally on the front lines building shelters and providing assistance during disasters.
Scott Robinson, an emergency management expert who teaches at Arizona State University, told The Washington Post that there is no historical precedent for requiring disaster victims to prove proof of their legal status before receiving assistance.
"The notion that the federal government would use these operations for surveillance is entirely new territory," he said.
Many critics were quick to attack the administration for threatening to punish nonprofit groups that help undocumented immigrants during natural disasters.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) lashed out at the decision to bar certain people from receiving assistance during humanitarian emergencies.
"When disaster hits, we cannot only help those with certain legal status," she wrote in a social media post. "We have an obligation to help every single person in need. This is unfathomable discrimination against immigrants that will cost our country lives."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said that restrictions on faith-based groups such as the Salvation Army amounted to a violation of their First Amendment rights.
"Arguably the most anti-religious administration in history," he wrote. "Just nakedly hostile to those who wish to practice their faith."
Bloomberg columnist Erika Smith labeled the new DHS policy "truly cruel and crazy—even for this administration."
Author Charles Fishman also labeled the new policy "crazy" and said it looks like the Trump administration is "trying to crush even charity."
Catherine Rampell, a former columnist at The Washington Post, simply described the new DHS policy as "evil."