PRESIDENT’S FISCAL YEAR 2022 BUDGET REQUEST SUPPORTS CRITICAL REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE ACCESS

(Washington, D.C.) — President Biden issued his 2022 Fiscal Year budget proposal, which:

• Proposes removing the harmful “Hyde Amendment,” a policy that denies insurance coverage of abortion for people working to make ends meet, for those enrolled in Medicaid.
• Proposes $340 million for the Title X Family Planning Program; an increase over its current funding level of $286.5 million.
• Proposes funding the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant at $822.7 million; an increase over its current funding level of $712.7 million.
• Provides level funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program at $101 million.

In response, Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, CEO, Power to Decide, issued the following statement:
“We welcome the President’s budget, which makes significant progress towards helping to ensure all people have access to reproductive health services they need and deserve.

“We are deeply grateful that President Biden submitted his budget request without the Hyde Amendment. For more than 40 years, the harmful policy denied insurance coverage of abortion for people working to make ends meet. In fact, more than seven million women of reproductive age currently on Medicaid lack coverage for abortion care because of the Hyde Amendment. More than half of these women are women of color. Now, it’s up to Congress to continue this momentum and pass federal appropriations bills without abortion coverage bans, including the Hyde Amendment.

“We also appreciate the proposed increase in funding to the Title X Family Planning Program, which is critical to truly meet the needs of the people who depend on the program for essential care and services. Insufficient funding and forcing high-quality providers out of the Title X program exacerbated disparities in access to family planning care which impacted Black people, brown people, people living in rural areas, and people with low incomes the most. 

“The administration has begun the process of undoing the harm to the Title X program, and this additional funding for the program is a helpful first step. However, in order to begin to fully repair Title X, we urge Congress to provide $512 million for FY 22.

“We’re also grateful for the significant increase in funding for the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant. At a time when the country faces a crisis in Black maternal health, we must increase the resources we devote to addressing these huge and preventable disparities.

“Finally, we’re grateful for continued funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program that helps to build the evidence of what we know works to ensure young people have the information they need to decide their futures. However, we urge Congress to fund the TPP Program at $150 million for FY 22. This funding would help serve more young people and restore evidence-based implementation of the program after repeated attempts to eliminate and undermine it.”

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 or have a child. Please visit us at www.PowerToDecide.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.