Power to Decide Deeply Disappointed in Omnibus Appropriations Bill

(Washington, D.C.) This morning, the U.S. Senate released text of an Omnibus Appropriations bill, which would fund the federal government for the remainder of FY 2023. As written, the bill fails to increase funding levels for key programs that provide reproductive health care services and education, proposing $286.5 million for the Title X Family Planning Program and $101 million for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program. If enacted, this bill would result in both programs being flat funded for the ninth year in a row.

The following can be attributed to Power to Decide CEO Raegan McDonald-Mosley, MD, MPH:

“Power to Decide is deeply disappointed with the Omnibus Appropriations bill released today. Once again, members of Congress opposed to contraception have succeeded in blocking urgently needed increases for the Title X program, and they have done so at a crisis point for reproductive health care access in our country. 

“Tens of millions of people across the country now live in states where abortion care is banned, or in contraceptive deserts, where they lack reasonable access to a clinic offering the full range of contraceptive methods. Today’s funding levels are likely to make this growing health care crisis worse. As a practicing OB-GYN, I can tell you these widening gaps in reproductive health access do not impact all of my patients in the same ways — it is people of color and those struggling to make ends meet who will feel the consequences of these failures to adequately fund the Title X and TPP programs. It is heartbreaking, and it doesn’t have to be this way. 

“We remind members of Congress who are opposed to expanding access to contraception that birth control is used and supported by the overwhelming majority of people. It’s time to make it available without unnecessary barriers so that everyone has the power to decide their future.”

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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.