Family planning and health organizations that serve tens of thousands of people across Pennsylvania could see federal funding delayed or denied by a new Trump administration policy, a new lawsuit alleges.The suit, which includes the Cumberland County-based Family Health Council of Central Pennsylvania as a plaintiff, takes aim at a step added this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to applications for Title X grants, which provide local agencies with funds to aid low-income and uninsured patients with family planning and related health services.That new process is detailed in the Title X 2027 Notice of Funding Opportunity published in April. It states that before applicants are assessed on their merits, a group of presidential appointees will conduct an “alignment review” to determine whether each application matches the agency’s “priorities.” The plan offers no opportunity to appeal the group’s decision.
To the plaintiffs in the suit, that sounded like code for evaluating applicants based on politics.“The Trump administration’s attempt to condition Title X funding on political allegiance is a grave threat to public health,” Sara Rose, deputy legal director at ACLU of Pennsylvania and attorney on the case, said in a statement. “Grant decisions must be guided by objective standards to ensure that taxpayer money is spent fairly and efficiently without regard to the ideology of its recipients.”
