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Ohio Planned Parenthood Cuts Services Funded by Title X

A photo of a planned parenthood clinic
KAREN KASLER
/
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU
A Planned Parenthood location west of Columbus, Ohio

Planned Parenthood says it will no longer provide birth control, HIV and STD testing and other health services with federal money known as Title X funds.

The group says it cannot comply with what it calls a gag rule that just went into effect that prohibits its doctors from talking about abortion with their patients.

What does that mean for Ohio?

Lillian Williams with Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio says more than 60,000 low income Ohioans get health screenings and birth control with the help of Title X funds.

"The subsidy allows us to provide services for patients at no cost, up to 100% of poverty," Williams said. "Without that funding, those 'fully subsidized' services won’t be available."

Williams says Planned Parenthood is the only Title X provider in nine Ohio counties. She says the organization will continue to serve patients on Medicaid and with private insurance. Williams says this change will also prevent mobile clinics in Cuyahoga County from going to low income communities.  

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.