U.S. Senators Tina Smith, Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray Introduce Bill to Protect Federal Funding for Birth Control, Reproductive Health Care Services

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced theExpanding Access to Family Planning Act, a bill that would safeguard funding for Title X – the country’s only federal program dedicated to providing family planning and preventive health services, including birth control, cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and reproductive health care – following attacks on the program by the Trump Administration last week. Title X clinics serve4 million peopleannually, and in 2023 alone, more than 1.5 million visits to Planned Parenthood health centers were made possible by the program. The bill is co-led in the House of Representatives by Representative Sharice Davids (KS-03), Judy Chu (CA-28) and Dina Titus (NV-01).
“We are at a time when Americans’ reproductive freedoms are under attack from extremist Republicans – which makes the Title X Family Planning Program more important than ever,”said Senator Smith.“Title X funding provides American women with access to critical reproductive health services. I invite my Republican colleagues who claim to champion family planning services to join us in supporting this commonsense legislation that will protect women’s access to life-saving services and birth control, pregnancy counseling, infertility services, and more.”
“For more than 50 years, Title X funding has helped women across the U.S. get cancer screenings, contraception, pregnancy tests, STI treatment, and so many other services that are critical to helping women—especially women with the tightest budgets—stay healthy and plan their futures,”said Senator Murray.“I’m proud to co-lead theExpanding Access to Family Planning Actwith my friend Senator Smith—this legislation would give Title X reliable annual funding to provide reproductive health care to more people, meeting a growing need for these vital services. As the Trump administration does everything they can to attack Title X and rip away women’s ability to receive basic health care, Democrats will keep fighting back to protect a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body and her future.”
“The Title X program saves lives by making sure people have access to affordable cancer screenings, STI testing, birth control, and pregnancy tests,”said Senator Warren.“While the Trump administration puts women’s health at risk, Democrats are fighting back.”
Specifically, TheExpanding Access to Family Planning Actwould:
$512 million annually for 10 years, addressing the current funding shortfall and ensuring access to essential services.
o $50 million in mandatory funding for clinic construction, renovations, and infrastructure improvements.
o Reinstate regulations prohibiting discrimination against providers who offer Title X services, ensuring continuity of care for patients.
Senator Smith has long advocated to expand access to reproductive health care and family planning services. She is the only Senator to have worked at Planned Parenthood, serving as the Vice President of Planned Parenthood Minnesota from 2002 – 2006. She saw every day that women are capable of making their own health care decisions, including decisions about birth control and abortion. In the Senate, she’s continued that work by supporting or introducing several bills to ensure women have access to reproductive health care services, including theStop Comstock Act, a bill to repeal an antiquated law from 1873 that Republicans want to misuse to ban abortion nationwide, and theRight to Contraception Actto protect the right to access and use contraception.
TheExpanding Access to Family Planning Actis even more crucial as the Trump Administration recentlyfrozemillions of dollars in already-appropriated Title X funding, impacting 16 organizations across several states. Planned Parenthood affiliates have lost access to as much as $3 million annually — resources they rely on to serve tens of thousands of patients each year. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the freeze couldimpactaccess to care for up to 1.25 million people, many of whom are low-income, people of color, or live in medically underserved communities.
“In Kansas and across the country, people are being turned away from the only places they can afford to get basic, lifesaving reproductive care — all because the Trump Administration is playing politics with their health,”saidDavids.“This bill protects trusted providers and ensures access to cancer screenings, birth control, and STI testing, no matter your income, where you live, or how you vote.”
“The Trump Administration is denying women across Nevada and the U.S. the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies and their families’ futures,”saidRepresentative Titus. “By fully funding family planning services, we can protect their rights to access lifesaving preventive care, birth control, and other reproductive health services at a time when these freedoms are under constant attack.”
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