PRESIDENT’S FISCAL YEAR 2021 BUDGET REQUEST UNDERMINES ESSENTIAL FUNDING FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH

(Washington, D.C.) — On Monday, February 10, President Trump issued his Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal, which:

• Proposes level funding for the Title X Family Planning Program at $286.5 million, but sustains the devastating domestic gag rule, which has already impacted access to birth control for 8.8 million women struggling to make ends meet.
• Eliminates the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program. Funded at $101 million for FY 2020, the TPP Program has previously supported competitive five-year grants to support quality sex education and teen pregnancy prevention programs in a wide variety of communities and settings across the country.
• Eliminates competitive Sexual Risk Avoidance (also known as abstinence-only) grants, funded at $35 million for FY 2020.
• Proposes a two-year reauthorization of the evidence-based Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) at $75 million annually, along with the state Sexual Risk Avoidance Program at $75 million annually.
• Blocks funding from going to Planned Parenthood.
• Ends the Pregnancy Assistance Fund that provides competitive grants to states and tribal entities to support pregnant and parenting teens and women, and combat violence against pregnant women.
• Severely cuts and proposes additional restrictions on Medicaid.

In response, Ginny Ehrlich, CEO, Power to Decide, issued the following statement:

“The President’s proposed budget is not a surprise, but nonetheless a devastating hit to supporting the reproductive well-being for people in the United States. As proposed, the budget cuts funding and restricts important access to proven public health programs that support people’s power to decide if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child. These budget proposals, if implemented, will compound the damage this Administration is doing to birth control access and coverage through the Title X gag rule, attacks on the Medicaid Program and attempts to undermine the contraceptive coverage requirement for employers and insurers.

“This budget projects us backwards by decades. Instead of going backwards, our focus should be on expanding high-quality, evidence-based sex education, access to birth control and supports for those who are pregnant and parenting that can help ensure all people, regardless of who they are, where they live or what their economic status is, can access the information, services and opportunities they need to live their best lives. ”

Power to Decide is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization that works to ensure all people—no matter who they are, where they live or what their economic status might be—have the power to decide if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child. Please visit us at www.PowerToDecide.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.