CONGRESS MUST ACT TO PROTECT AND EXPAND REPRODUCTIVE WELL-BEING FOR ALL
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Today, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee released its Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations bill, which proposes to eliminate funding for the Title X Family Planning Program and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program, critical programs that provide sexual and reproductive health care services and information to communities across the country. This proposed bill also includes extreme policy riders that would severely hurt the most vulnerable among us, including the harmful Hyde amendment, attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, and other restrictions on reproductive health care access. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to mark up and vote on this legislation in mid-July.
Power to Decide CEO Raegan McDonald-Mosley, MD, MPH, issued the following statement in response:
“As our nation faces more and more attacks on access to reproductive and sexual health care, this bill exacerbates harm on those who already face enormous barriers. By eliminating funding for the Title X and TPP programs, and including ever more harmful policy riders, appropriators are further pushing basic information and care out of reach for many, especially marginalized communities.
“As a practicing OB-GYN, I see firsthand that access to the full range of reproductive health services and information is essential for the well-being of my patients, their families and their communities. Everyone — no matter who they are or where they live — should have the resources and right to decide if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child.
“As we mark two years since the Dobbs decision, attempts to eliminate pivotal reproductive health programs and continued restrictions harm the most vulnerable among us. As appropriators work through FY 2025 funding, we call on Congress to do far more to address the needs of our communities rather than causing further harm.”
###
Power to Decide is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to advance sexual and reproductive well-being for all by providing trusted information, expanding access to quality services, and catalyzing culture change.