$11.2 million in funding to expand access to family planning services

CHICAGO (KHQA) — The state of Illinois has received $5.4 in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that will support and expand access to equitable and affordable family planning services for low-income populations across Illinois.

The federal grant, along with $5.8 million in state general revenue funds, means the Illinois Family Planning Program is providing approximately $11.2 million in funding in state Fiscal Year 2023 to 29 delegate agencies that operate 98 family planning clinics throughout the state.

The new HHS grant to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) will support access to Title X services under the Illinois Family Planning Program that were sharply restricted under the previous federal administration, which imposed a “gag rule” that blocked family planning clinics from referring patients to abortion providers.

“Now that the Biden administration has reversed Trump’s gag rule, I am proud to announce we have rejoined the federal Title X program and we’re putting record funding toward our Illinois Family Planning Program,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Let this record-breaking investment remind women that the state of Illinois trusts you to make your own choices. To choose what contraceptives are right for you. To choose whether you want to be a parent or not. And we will make sure that—on top of protecting your right to choose—you get the care that you deserve.”

Title X provides a portfolio of preventive health services, including HIV prevention and testing, breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment, and reproductive health care for thousands of low-income, uninsured and under-insured Illinois residents and families each year.

In 2019, Pritzker announced Illinois would forgo federal Title X funding in response to the rule imposed by the Trump Administration that banned federal funding for contraceptives for low-income people, unless grant recipients pledged not to counsel on abortion options or refer to abortion services.