HHS Issues New Title X Guidance as Hawley Presses Kennedy on Planned Parenthood Funds

Overview

• HHS released new guidance for the Title X family-planning program that highlights fertility support, chronic disease care, and fertility-awareness-based methods, and it reiterates that no funds go to programs where abortion is a method of family planning.
• The White House has chosen to distribute 2026 Title X funds awarded under Biden-era five-year grants, citing legal challenges that make canceling those awards risky.
• The funding decision benefits grantees such as Planned Parenthood, whose family-planning clinics receive Title X support even though the law bars using those dollars to pay for abortions.
• Sen. Josh Hawley sent HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a letter urging reversal of the funding move, pressing for the return of the 2019 'Protect Life Rule,' and seeking detailed answers by April 30.
• The administration says it will realign the program for the 2027 grant cycle, a stance the White House framed as advancing a pro-life, pro-family agenda while navigating court and contract limits.