Enacted in 1970, Title X of the Public Health Service Act (Public Law 91-572 Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs) is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing high quality and cost-effective family planning and related preventive health services to low-income individuals. Family planning clinics offer a broad range of contraceptive methods and related counseling; as well as breast and cervical cancer screening; pregnancy testing and counseling; screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs); HIV testing; and other patient education and referrals.
Family planning centers consistently encounter opposition and scrutiny in the political arena, including attempts to mischaracterize and defund the Title X program. For decades, however, FTLF has been committed to assisting family planning clinics with a wide variety of work ranging from research and drafting policy papers, to advice and counsel, to developing specialized agreements for Title X recipients and subrecipients, to litigating key cases, to teaching.