H.R.1 -- Americans Will Die

As of March, budget cuts coming from congress have taken roughly $1.8 million away from Connecticut residents' family planning resources via the Planned Parenthood’s of Southern New England (Trump, 2025), and the Big Beautiful Bill Trump is currently attempting to pass is amplifying this problem. With this administration, it’s evident that this is just them chipping away at reproductive healthcare – especially for vulnerable and underinsured populations in our community. The cut in March specifically affects the Family Planning Services and Public Research Act of 1970, or the Title X Family Planning Program (Ciardullo, Patsy, Wagoner, Nevada, 2016). The purpose of this act was to ensure low income citizens had adequate access to things like birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment. Per federal law, these funds could not be used to provide abortion care (Villalonga-Vivoni, “Planned”, 2025). Connecticut state legislators have since allocated an additional $800,000 for Planned Parenthood funding, but this still does not make up for the entire deficit (Villalonga-Vivoni, “How”, 2025). 

There are several Planned Parenthood locations throughout Connecticut: including in Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Waterbury. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hartford has a 27.3% poverty rate, New Haven rests close by at 25%, Bridgeport is at 22%, and Waterbury has 23.9% of their citizens living in poverty. These numbers far exceed and even double both the national average of 11.1% (National, 2025) and the Connecticut state average of 10.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023, QuickFacts Connecticut). 

As of 6/26/25, the Supreme Court ruled in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, to allow South Carolina to withhold Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood locations (Quinn, 2025). This sets a dangerous precedent that would allow other states to start to exclude planned parenthood from Medicaid (Quinn, 2025). This ruling reverses the precedent that was previously set with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who attempted to seek a similar ruling in 2018 but was blocked by the courts (Whitehurst, 2025). The Big Beautiful Bill that Trump is currently attempting to pass would ban federal funding from medicaid for any Planned Parenthood Services for at least a year. 

Now, let’s look at the numbers. Based on their 2022-2023 numbers, Planned Parenthood performed 410,272 breast exams and pap smears, 2.25 million birth control services, and 4.63 million STI tests and treatments. They also provide miscarriage services, primary care, depression screenings, UTI treatment, and more (Planned, 2024). When we look at who is actually using Planned Parenthood for healthcare treatments, they report 75% of their patients are living below the poverty level (Urgent, 2016). 

It is important to hold our senators and representatives accountable. Even though we are in New England, federal laws and budget cuts can still rear their ugly heads. And, unfortunately, these budget cuts will disproportionately affect those living below the poverty level. In Connecticut, minority groups of hispanic and black individuals were living more often in poverty than their white and asian neighbors (Understanding, 2023). Per Planned Parenthood, 8/10 Americans oppose financial cuts to planned parenthood, but if we as citizens don’t hold our elected officials to the same standard it won’t matter (Eppin, Justicz, 2025)

The “Big, Beautiful Bill” would lead to the closure of an estimated third (200) of Planned Parenthood locations nationwide. This bill would make it incredibly difficult for Medicaid users to obtain healthcare at locations that also offer abortions. While it may not ban abortion in plain verbiage, it would make it difficult for low income individuals to use their insurance at locations that offer abortion care. Regardless of whether they were going for abortion care or not. In Connecticut alone, an estimated 45% of Planned Parenthood patients use Husky (Villalonga-Vivoni, “How”, 2025). Husky is the state's Medicaid program, and this would result in an estimated 23,000 individuals being blocked from using their insurance to see a healthcare provider (Villalonga-Vivoni, “How”, 2025).

As they discuss cutting Medicaid back at a federal level, they run the risk of removing vital services that people need with no foreseeable plan to replace them (Eppin, Justicz, 2025). Cervical and breast cancer, unwanted and high risk pregnancies, and contagious STI’s will not go away. But rather, they will likely become even more prevalent and dangerous, as well as difficult to monitor and treat with less access to services. We need improved access to obstetric and gynecologic care – not reduced. As they reduce the opportunity for people to seek outpatient and preventative care we will begin to see fluctuations in expensive, inpatient, emergency care. If a large chunk of individuals utilizing Planned Parenthood services are on Husky, we will all eventually foot the bill when they visit the ED for emergency needs, and are forced to rely on the state to raise families they can’t afford. 

Someday, people will ask us what we did in this moment. Maybe your wife, girlfriend, daughter, mother, niece, or even your neighbor. What will you say? We are living in a defining moment in US history, and well you might not think you can affect politics – I promise they can (and will) affect you and those that you love. Until you have helped a family pick out funeral clothes for their unborn and non-viable child, pushed for 4 hours with a laboring patient, or watched the joy fade from someone’s eyes during a postpartum hemorrhage and the fear set in you cannot understand how dangerous and difficult childbearing truly is. The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate amongst industrialized countries, and that rate jumps even higher when looking at minority and low-income groups. How can we justify cutting funding when this is our reality?

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), the Association of Certified Nurse Midwives (ACNM), The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) all took a public stance against this bill. If everyone taking care of you is against it, how can you be for it? Even if one woman dies because of this, is that not enough for you to find the humanity to care?

I urge you to reach out to your elected officials and their offices. John B. Larson is the Congressman for the 1st Congressional District of CT, and Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy are Connecticut Senators. 

References

Eppin, W., & Justicz, J. (2025, April 29). Even if you don’t depend on Medicaid, you’ll likely be hurt if Republicans cut it. MSNBC. https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/medicaid-cuts-republicans-trump-rcna203010

Ciardullo, Patsy, Wagoner, Nevada, "Title X Family Planning Program (1970–1977)". Embryo Project Encyclopedia ( 2016-10-21 ). ISSN: 1940-5030 https://hdl.handle.net/10776/11368

National Poverty in America Awareness Month: January 2025 (2025, January). United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/poverty-awareness-month.html#:~:text=Official%20Poverty%20Measure,and%20Table%20B%2D7).

Planned Parenthood. (2024). Annual Report 2022-2023. chrome-extension://bdfcnmeidppjeaggnmidamkiddifkdib/viewer.html?file=https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/bf/a3/bfa35e39-14e5-43c3-8192-de42ed9309f1/2024-ppfa-annualreport-c3-digital

Trump Administration Targets Planned Parenthood By Withholding Title X Funding, Additional Cuts Loom (2025, April 4). Planned Parenthood. https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-votes-connecticut/news-room/trump-administration-targets-planned-parenthood-by-withholding-title-x-funding-additional-cuts-loom

UNDERSTANDING RACIAL INEQUITIES THROUGH DATA. (2023, June). Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health Connecticut General Assembly, 10. chrome-extension://bdfcnmeidppjeaggnmidamkiddifkdib/viewer.html?file=https://wp.cga.ct.gov/creph/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-Data-Report-Binder-Updated-June-2023.pdf

The Urgent Need for Planned Parenthood Health Centers (2016). Planned Parenthood. chrome-extension://bdfcnmeidppjeaggnmidamkiddifkdib/viewer.html?file=https://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/4314/8183/5009/20161207_Defunding_fs_d01_1.pdfEd

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). QuickFacts Bridgeport City, Connecticut. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/bridgeportcityconnecticut/POP060210

U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). QuickFacts Connecticut. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CT/IPE120223

U.S. Census Bureau. (2023.). QuickFacts Hartford city, Connecticut. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hartfordcityconnecticut/PST045223

U.S. Census Bureau. (2023.). QuickFacts New Haven city, Connecticut. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newhavencityconnecticut/POP060210

U.S. Census Bureau. (2023.). QuickFacts Waterbury city, Connecticut. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/waterburycityconnecticut/INC110223

Villalonga-Vivoni, C. (2025, April 16). Planned Parenthood faces $1.8M cut in federal funds as CT advocates warn of health care impact. CTpost. https://www.ctpost.com/connecticut/article/ct-planned-parenthood-federal-funding-cut-pause-20252993.php

Villalonga-Vivi, C. (2025, June 24). How Planned Parenthood may be affected in CT by Trump spending bill. CTpost. https://www.ctpost.com/connecticut/article/planned-parenthood-uncertain-big-beautiful-bill-20389656

Whitehurst, L. (2025, June 26). Supreme Court ruling allows states to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/supreme-court-ruling-allows-states-to-cut-off-medicaid-funding-to-planned-parenthood

Quinn, M. (2025, June 26). Supreme Court lets South Carolina block Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-south-carolina-bid-to-defund-planned-parenthood/