Davids, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Protect and Expand Access to Birth Control, Reproductive Health Care Services
Today, Representative Sharice Davids (KS-03) joined Representative Judy Chu (CA-28) and Dina Titus (NV-01) and Senators Tina Smith (MN), Patty Murray (WA), and Elizabeth Warren (MA) in introducing the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act, legislation that would safeguard and increase funding for Title X — the nation’s only federal program dedicated to providing comprehensive family planning and preventive health services.
For more than 50 years, Title X has provided critical health care services, including birth control, cancer screenings, and testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Title X clinics serve 4 million people annually, and in 2023 alone, more than 1.5 million visits to Planned Parenthood health centers were made possible by the program. But that care is under threat, as the Trump Administration continues its attacks on this critical program.
“In Kansas and across the country, people are being turned away from the only places they can afford to get basic, lifesaving reproductive care — all because the Trump Administration is playing politics with their health,” said Davids. “This bill protects trusted providers and ensures access to cancer screenings, birth control, and STI testing, no matter your income, where you live, or how you vote.”
The need for the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act comes as the Trump Administration has recently frozen millions of dollars in already-appropriated Title X funding, impacting 16 organizations across several states. Planned Parenthood affiliates have lost access to as much as $3 million annually — resources they rely on to serve tens of thousands of patients each year. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the freeze could impact access to care for up to 1.25 million people, many of whom are low-income, people of color, or live in medically underserved communities.
“The Trump Administration is denying women across Nevada and the U.S. the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies and their families’ futures,” said Representative Dina Titus (NV-01). “By fully funding family planning services, we can protect their rights to access lifesaving preventive care, birth control, and other reproductive health services at a time when these freedoms are under constant attack."
"While the Trump-Musk administration freezes Title X funding around the country, threatening family planning and health screenings for hundreds of thousands of women, Democrats are fighting back with the bicameral introduction of the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act,” said Representative Judy Chu (CA-28). “Trump and Congressional Republicans may not care about providing American women the freedom to plan their futures, but we do. And we are backing it up with this legislation to guarantee stable funding for Title X, improve health clinics' infrastructure, and protect their access to comprehensive, affordable reproductive health care."
“We are at a time when Americans’ reproductive freedoms are under attack from extremist Republicans – which makes the Title X Family Planning Program more important than ever,” said Senator Tina Smith (MN). “Title X funding provides American women with access to critical reproductive health services. I invite my Republican colleagues who claim to champion family planning services to join us in supporting this commonsense legislation that will protect women’s access to life-saving services and birth control, pregnancy counseling, infertility services, and more.”
The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act would:
- Guarantee stable, annual funding for Title X, preventing repeated Republican-led efforts to eliminate the program.
- The bill would provide $512 million annually for 10 years, addressing the current funding shortfall and ensuring access to essential services.
- It also allocates $50 million in mandatory funding for clinic construction, renovations, and infrastructure improvements.
- Protect providers like Planned Parenthood from being excluded, as seen under the Trump Administration’s so-called “domestic gag rule.”
- The bill would reinstate regulations prohibiting discrimination against providers who offer Title X services, ensuring continuity of care for patients.
- Ensure access to comprehensive, affordable reproductive health care for all patients, regardless of income, race, immigration status, or gender.
- This includes information and services related to prenatal care, delivery, infant care, foster care, adoption, and pregnancy termination — unless a patient opts out of receiving information on certain options.
Last week, Davids led more than 160 House Democrats in urging U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to immediately restore all appropriated Title X funding. The letter also called for an urgent meeting with impacted providers to ensure that care is not disrupted.
“The Trump administration is trying to strip health care access from people nationwide, and now they’re attacking Title X — the nation’s only federal program dedicated to providing affordable sexual and reproductive health care,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, President & CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “Sadly, we already know what happens when health care providers, including Planned Parenthood health centers, lose Title X funding. People across the country suffer, cancers go undetected, access to birth control is severely reduced, and the nation’s STI crisis worsens. Thank you to Senators Smith, Murray, and Warren, and Representatives Davids, Chu, and Titus for reintroducing this critical bill to protect continued investment in the Title X family planning program. The withholding of Title X funds from Planned Parenthood health centers cannot stand.”
“The recent, unjustified attacks on the Title X program have detrimental real-life consequences across the country,” said Clare Coleman, President & CEO, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association. “Withholding Title X funds for a quarter of all grantees in the Title X network has impacted 870 health clinics and more than 850,000 patients. The impact is vast and disproportionately affects low-income individuals, rural communities, people of color. I applaud Rep. Sharice Davids and Senator Tina Smith for introducing this legislation and look forward to a future where Title X family planning providers are fully funded and able to serve every patient in their community who needs high-quality reproductive health care.”
“The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act secures sustainable, consistent funding for Title X that would help patients by helping to stabilize the provider network, prevent service disruptions, and uphold its commitment to person-centered care — care that respects and responds to an individual’s preferences, needs, and values,” said Kelly Baden, Vice President of Public Policy, Guttmacher Institute. “Guttmacher data shows that restrictions appearing to target one type of reproductive health care have ripple effects on all aspects of reproductive care, including abortion and contraception. Attacks on Title X from the Trump Administration are devastating to the thousands of people who rely on those health centers every day as their trusted provider of contraception and other affordable care. Congress must support Title X as a vital program ensuring access to reproductive health care and addressing longstanding health disparities in care. We thank Rep. Davids for her leadership in championing this critical legislation.”
The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act is endorsed by a wide coalition of public health and reproductive rights organizations, including Guttmacher Institute, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, National Women’s Law Center, National Council of Jewish Women, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Power to Decide, Reproductive Freedom for All, and Upstream USA.