Family planning services allow women to make their own choices about whether and when to have children. These services, which are critical to ensuring gender and racial equity and reproductive justice, are not limited to contraception, pregnancy testing and fertility services. For many low-income women, particularly those living in states that have not expanded Medicaid, family planning coverage provides access to important preventive health services too.

Despite the importance of these services, actions in recent years at the federal level and in some states have undercut access to family planning services, particularly for low-income women whose services are funded largely through Medicaid and the federal Title X grant program for family planning providers.

In a new blog post for The Commonwealth Fund, “Restoring Women’s Access to Medicaid Family Planning Services,” Manatt Health examines the limitations some states have imposed on Medicaid-financed family planning services. The post also describes some potential actions the Biden administration could take to restore Medicaid enrollees’ access to these essential services.

Read the blog post here.