Senator Murray Announces $4.5 Million in New Title X Funding for Washington State as Republicans Seek to Once Again Undermine the Program

Funding will help Washington state patients get the birth control, STI testing and treatment, and other preventive care they need  

As Democrats deliver essential family planning funds for communities across our country, Senate Republicans seek to reinstate Trump’s gag rule

Senator Murray: “While Republicans are working to undermine the Title X program, I’m fighting to protect it—because I know what these resources mean here in Washington state. Title X delivers essential reproductive health care that patients need to stay healthy—it’s really that simple.”

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, announced $4.5 million in new Title X funding for Washington state—allowing more Washington state patients to get the family planning and preventative health services they need after President Trump’s gag rule took a wrecking ball to the Title X program. The funding announced today is the second round of funding for Title X clinics in Washington state since the reversal of the Trump-era gag rule, which Senator Murray fought to overturn.

In recent weeks, Senate Republicans have introduced a joint resolution to reinstate the Trump administration’s gag rule, which prohibited providers who receive Title X funds from informing patients about the full range of reproductive health care options, including abortion, and halved the Title X-funded health care network’s capacity. The harmful rule denied Washington state much needed family planning funding and compromised the health care of millions patients nationwide—particularly women of color who rely on Title X health centers. Washington state is now part of the Title X network once again thanks to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) final rule on Title X, which reversed the harmful gag rule.

“While Republicans are working to undermine the Title X program, I’m fighting to protect it—because I know what these resources mean here in Washington state. Title X delivers essential reproductive health care that patients need to stay healthy—it’s really that simple. Title X means that women in Washington state can get the birth control they need to plan a family on their own terms, life-saving breast exams and pelvic exams that detect cancer early, STI testing and treatment, and so much more.

“After the Trump’s Administration’s disastrous gag rule—that forced Washington state out of the Title X program—these resources will help us rebuild the program and get more folks the health care they need, especially those with the tightest budgets. We can’t go backwards—so I’m going to fight back against Republicans’ harmful agenda. But I won’t stop there: I’m going to keep pushing to expand this common-sense program so that patients across our country can get the reproductive health care they need from the providers they trust.”

Senator Murray has consistently fought to strengthen and preserve the Title X program, and has been a vocal critic of the Trump Administration’s Title X gag rule and other efforts to undermine reproductive health care. Earlier this year, she announced the first Title X funding for Washington state since the gag rule was rescinded.

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