**Announcement comes after NH Delegation sent letter to HHS supporting PPNNE’s application for dire needs funding**

**Funding is particularly critical following the New Hampshire Executive Council’s repeated votes to defund NH family planning providers**

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and U.S. Representatives Annie Kuster (NH-02) and Chris Pappas (NH-01) today welcomed an announcement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) will receive $500,000 through a Title X Dire Need Grant award. The NH Congressional Delegation pushed for this funding, including writing a letter to HHS Secretary Becerra supporting PPNNE’s application for this grant to ensure critical health services for thousands of Granite Staters aren’t cut due to funding shortfalls.

This grant announcement will help offset funding losses that PPNNE, as well as other providers in New Hampshire, have suffered over the last few years – both from the previous administration’s Title X Gag Rule, which left the majority of New Hampshire family planning providers without access to Title X funding, as well as from the New Hampshire Executive Council’s repeated votes to defund providers.

“This $500,000 grant is essential to ensure PPNNE continues to provide essential, life-saving health services to women and families across New Hampshire – especially since PPNNE was not receiving any federal or state funds until this point. Thousands of Granite State women rely on PPNNE for health care services, ranging from cancer screenings to family planning and maternal health. PPNNE needs funding to support their vital work,” said Senator Shaheen. “That’s why I’m pleased HHS heeded calls from the delegation and chose PPNNE as one of eight providers across the nation to receive this federal funding. Particularly as New Hampshire Republicans continue their crusade against women and their access to health care by denying family planning providers state funding, federal resources are needed. It’s shameful we’re in a position where we need to counteract these dangerous and partisan actions by State Republicans, but I’ll continue working at the federal level to protect reproductive rights and support our frontline family planning providers.”

“This critical federal funding will help Planned Parenthood continue to provide vital, high-quality health care to Granite Staters,” said Senator Hassan. “We pushed the Biden administration to quickly get these funds to New Hampshire after politicians in Concord defunded Planned Parenthood, jeopardizing Granite Staters’ access to health care. I am grateful for the services that Planned Parenthood provides for Granite Staters – from cancer screenings to birth control – and I will continue working to secure much-needed funding to family planning centers so that Granite Staters can continue to receive the health care services that they need.”

“The critical services that Planned Parenthood of Northern New England provides to communities in the Granite State and the region are essential. But, because Republican state legislators continue their misguided efforts to defund abortion services — that already did not receive federal funding — these lifesaving services are painfully underfunded,” said Rep. Kuster. “These resources heading to PPNNE are essential to continued safe access to reproductive and preventive care including birth control, STI treatment, and cancer screening for our residents. As we head into the 49^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade this Saturday, I will continue working to protect reproductive freedoms for all, regardless of their zip code.”

“These funds could not come at a more crucial time,” said Rep. Pappas. “A radical anti-choice majority on New Hampshire’s Executive Council has repeatedly turned its back on women and families who rely on New Hampshire family planning providers. That's why I’m pleased to see that our call for this funding has been answered. As a former Executive Councilor who considered these contracts in the past, I know how crucial these funds are to provide services including birth control, annual exams, cancer screenings, and STI testing. This is an important step forward to protecting the health of our communities, and I will continue to do all I can at the federal level to support family planning providers so they can meet the needs of their patients.”

This funding is a one-time, 15-month grant opportunity to support family planning providers in dire need across the country. This grant complements the Title X national services competition, which will provide up to five years of funding this spring to successful grant applicants.

The NH Congressional Delegation welcomed an announcement in October from the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would approve a rule change the NH Congressional Delegation had pushed for to reverse the Title X Gag Rule and help bridge the gap in funding for providers. Soon after, the Biden administration announced it would make available $256,000,000 for Title X providers for fiscal year (FY) 2022. Title X funding is critical for New Hampshire family planning providers that have been decimated by the previous administration’s Title X Gag Rule, leaving the majority of New Hampshire providers without access to Title X funding. In June, Senator Shaheen sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra urging him to provide support to New Hampshire family planning providers who will lose state funding under State Republican’s New Hampshire budget bill.

In response to the Executive Council’s first vote to defund family planning providers, the NH Congressional Delegation hosted a press event in September with representatives from Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Equality Health Center and Lovering Health Center to discuss the dangerous consequences of the extreme partisan decision. The press event followed the delegation’s letter to the Biden administration calling for the swift distribution of supplemental assistance directly to providers impacted by the Executive Council’s decision. Last month, Shaheen authored an op-ed for Seacoast Online about what’s at stake for women in New Hampshire and across the country as the U.S. Supreme Court considers Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade.  

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