In some states, the federal program that provides family planning services is clashing with state abortion laws, but here in Georgia clinics are able to continue providing counseling.
In Georgia, one organization receives the state’s allotment of money from the federal Title X (pronounced Title Ten) family planning program, which serves low-income people. The Georgia Family Planning System in 2022 distributed $8.3 million in federal grants to clinics across the state.
“Title X isn’t just about pregnancy planning and prevention. It’s really about whole person care,” said Sara Sullivan, program director of the Georgia Family Planning System. “We want your whole body well, not just thinking about parenthood intentions.”
Created in 1970, Title X is a federal grant program that funds comprehensive family planning services and preventative health services, including contraception, breast and cervical cancer screenings, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy testing and counseling.
According to an investigation by KFF Health News, an independent source of health policy research and journalism, the Department of Health and Human Services canceled Tennessee’s $7.1 million in Title X funding in March after officials said the state health department violated federal rules by not counseling patients about abortion. Those rules say participating clinics must offer pregnant women information about terminating pregnancies and abortion referrals on request. But Tennessee state officials told family planning clinics they could discuss only services that were legal in the state — effectively cutting off any talk about abortion.
Sullivan was confident that Georgia’s Title X program will not have the same problem.
“The likelihood of that happening here is very, very low. The reason why is because we are not a state agency. We are a consortium of federally qualified health centers‚” Sullivan said. “We’re not a political system. We’re just here to serve.”
When the Family Health Centers of Georgia took over the Title X grant for Georgia in 2014, rates of maternal mortality, sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancy were among the highest in the country. While Georgia still ranks high in these categories, the Georgia Family Planning System saw an 86% increase in patients served over a five-year period, rising from 86,000 in 2015 to 160,000 in 2020.
The Georgia Family Planning System now oversees the nation’s largest network of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) of Title X grantees, Sullivan said. Across Georgia there are over 180 Title X clinics located in 157 out of the state’s 159 counties.
“The beauty of FQHCs is that not only are you able to get women’s health care, but you have other complimentary services like dental care and behavioral health,” Sullivan said.
The Empowerment Resource Center, located in downtown Atlanta, has been a Title X site since 2015. Jacqueline Brown, chief executive officer of the Empowerment Resource Center, said that being a member of the program has allowed the clinic to expand services and serve more patients who seek reproductive health care.
“In the past, it [family planning] has been relegated to the local health department, and it’s so often thought of as being there for folks who are desperate and in need of services. Folks don’t see it [family planning] as a preventative opportunity for the citizens of Georgia,” Brown said.
According to Brown, the most requested services that Title X covers include STD screenings, HIV screenings and PrEP, the medication that prevents individuals from getting infected with HIV.
“I think that if we looked at Title X from a reproductive health standpoint, more people would be open to it,” said Brown.
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