The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Trump administration has reinstated millions of dollars in federal family planning grants to Planned Parenthood and several other health providers, leading civil rights groups to abandon their legal challenge against the earlier withholding.
The Title X program, which has supported family planning services since 1970, offers resources such as contraception, screenings for sexually transmitted infections, and cancer detection to low-income individuals. Federal rules explicitly bar these funds from being used for abortion procedures.
Last spring (around March 2025), HHS paused grants totaling roughly $27.5 million to $65 million for more than a dozen organizations, including multiple Planned Parenthood affiliates across states like the Carolinas, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, and the Dakotas. Officials cited potential breaches of civil rights laws and executive orders, particularly those targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) activities in federally funded programs.
While some grants were released during the summer, others stayed on hold until December 2025. At that point, HHS notified affected Planned Parenthood branches that the funds backdated to April 2025 would be released, attributing the decision to unspecified “clarifications” and steps taken by the recipients to address compliance concerns.
On January 13, 2026, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), along with partners like the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, voluntarily withdrew their April 2025 lawsuit contesting the freeze. ACLU representatives described the outcome as a win for continued access to vital non-abortion health services.
“We shouldn’t have needed to go to court just to safeguard basic care like birth control, STI testing, and cancer screenings,” noted Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel with the ACLU of the District of Columbia. Deputy director Brigitte Amiri of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project emphasized vigilance moving forward, stating that while this restores stability for now, broader threats to reproductive health access persist under the current administration.
HHS has offered no detailed public explanation for the reversal, and administration officials have not commented extensively. The restored Title X money provides critical support to clinics serving hundreds of thousands of patients, though it represents only a portion of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding streams.
Separate legal fights continue over larger Medicaid restrictions approved by Congress in mid-2025, which bar payments to abortion-providing entities for a set period. Pro-life advocates have voiced frustration with the Title X restoration, calling for more comprehensive measures to limit federal support for such organizations.
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