Tennessee's lost reproductive healthcare funding will go to Planned Parenthood
A workaround has enabled millions in lost federal funding, earmarked for family planning services for low-income residents, to return to Tennessee via Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi.
The state of Tennessee was disqualified from receiving federal Title X funding in April after an audit revealed reproductive healthcare service providers were not in compliance with federal guidelines that stipulate providers must counsel patients on all options available to them in the course of family planning by excluding abortion as an option in the state.
The state condemned the move by the federal government at the time, and defended their position of counseling patients on all options legal in the state, as opposed to legal in the U.S.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee also proposed a budget amendment of $7.5 million in recurring funding, and an extra $1.8 million in non-recurring funding, to supplement the current fiscal year.
Now, instead of Title X funds being awarded to the state health department, the funds will go to Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi by way of another Planned Parenthood affiliate, The Virginia League for Planned Parenthood.
The development is the latest instance of federal funds bypassing Tennessee's state health department entirely and going straight to nonprofits that provide direct healthcare services. In April, a similar maneuver bypassed $4 million in federal funds for HIV prevention and treatment around Tennessee's health department.
Tennessee's health department had previously declined the funding for HIV services, and instead only accepted funds that would go directly to county health departments.
At the heart of both instances is the long-embattled relationship between the state of Tennessee and Planned Parenthood that hinges on abortion access.
Title X services do not cover abortion, but they do cover basic family planning services like birth control, planning for pregnancy and basic infertility services. In order to stay qualified for these funds, service providers must advise patients of all options available to them, including abortion.
Under the new funding pathway, the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood received $3.9 million for Title X services. They will be able to pay out those funds directly to PPTNM as a subgrantee.
An additional $3.9 million in Title X funds will be granted to Converge Inc., a Mississippi organization that focuses on reproductive healthcare expansion in the South. They will be able to distribute Title X funds to PPTNM, also as a grantee.
Ashley Coffield, the president and CEO of PPTNM expressed gratitude for the partnerships that will restore Title X services to Planned Parenthood's healthcare infrastructure in the two states.
“We know how important this funding is for our patients to receive expanded access to quality, affordable care in our communities,” said Coffield. "All people deserve access to birth control, STI testing and treatment and cancer screenings regardless of where they live or how much money they make,” Coffield said.
In a statement provided to The Commercial Appeal, Lee reiterated the state's disqualification from receiving funding is "wrong on so many levels" and said the federal government — in this case, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — should "correct their mistake."
""The federal government withheld critical funding from Tennessee families, so they could funnel taxpayer dollars to a radical political organization. Some things should simply rise above politics -- especially resources that Tennessee mothers, children and families have counted on for decades," Lee said."
Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal covering healthcare, hospitals, and resource access. She can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Planned Parenthood in TN gets federal funding over state health department
