Family planning clinics across the U.S. are bracing for a potential lapse in federal funding — and New Mexico Department of Health officials say it’s “too soon to tell” what kind of impact that will have in the state.
The Title X Family Planning Program, created by Congress in 1970, provides grants to public agencies and nonprofit organizations that offer family planning services and preventive health care — such as basic infertility resources, short- and long-acting contraceptives, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and screenings for a host of other health issues.
But the latest round of Title X funding — which was scheduled to take effect Wednesday — is stuck in bureaucratic limbo. Breaking from its typical funding cycle, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the Title X program, did not issue grant guidance until March 13 and gave providers just one week to apply for the funds, Politico reported.
The New Mexico Department of Health’s Title X award expired March 31, agency spokesperson David Barre confirmed in an email to The New Mexican.
“The department is hopeful that HHS will allocate additional grant funding beginning in April,” Barre wrote. “NMDOH remains committed to ensuring family planning and reproductive health services remain available for its clients.”
Title X is the only domestic federal program dedicated to family planning care, according to a 2025 report prepared by the Congressional Research Service. In fiscal year 2025, the program provided $286.5 million in grants to organizations across the country, including individual providers, local governments and state public health agencies.
The New Mexico Department of Health received $3.1 million in Title X grant funding in fiscal year 2024, the latest year for which data was publicly available from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Population Affairs.
State-run public health offices across New Mexico, along with a handful of local clinics and school-based health centers, were listed in a Title X service directory published in January.
Though federal law prohibits providers from spending Title X funding on abortions, the program has been under near constant threat since the start of the second Trump administration.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in March 2025 froze $65.8 million in Title X funding for 16 out of 86 grantees, including all Planned Parenthood grantees and seven other nonprofit organizations.
In response, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association and the American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal agency, though the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit in January after the suspended grants were restored.
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains — the regional affiliate that serves New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming — does not receive Title X funding, spokesperson Fawn Bolak confirmed in an email to The New Mexican.
Nevertheless, Bolak said, the threats to Title X funding pose a real risk to patients, as safety-net providers navigate threats to funding and disruptions in preventive care turn into missed diagnoses and avoidable harm.
“Access to health care should never be used as political leverage, especially when the consequences fall so directly on our most vulnerable patients and communities,” Bolak wrote.
She added, “Loss of this funding, even temporarily, will have real, immediate consequences across the country, but especially here in New Mexico where health care is more difficult to come by.”
The delays in Title X funding inspired strong responses from Democratic members of Congress, including New Mexico’s congressional delegation. U.S. Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich signed on to a March 11 letter from dozens of senators urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to release Title X funding.
Members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, including U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández and Melanie Stansbury, authored a similar letter to the federal agency.
“Title X grantees were already awarded these funds,” the caucus’ letter stated. “Those who rely on these services should not be punished by HHS’s inadequate planning. … Do not stifle the life-saving work of Title X-funded centers that have helped women and families across our country for decades.”
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