Months after having its federal family planning funding restored, the only Title X grantee program in Missouri is facing new threats from U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.
During a congressional hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services Budget on Wednesday, Hawley asked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop providing Title X funding to Beacon Reproductive Health Network, a nonprofit based in Jefferson City.
He called the nonprofit, which received $8 million in federal funding, an “abortion provider.”
“Can you tell me, when are we going to stop funding people like this?” Hawley asked Kennedy. “I don’t think that this kind of entity ought to be getting federal tax money.”
Michelle Trupiano, executive director of the organization in Hawley’s crosshairs, called the senator’s comments inaccurate and misleading. Federal law prohibits Title X funds from being used for abortions.
Formerly the Missouri Family Health Council, Beacon leads the state’s Title X program, and has been doing so for nearly 45 years. It distributes Title X grants across 65 Missouri health centers, including city and county health departments, community action agencies, federally-qualified health centers and hospital-based clinics. It also works with family planning clinics, including seven Planned Parenthood locations, to fund health care services such as contraception.
“Senator Hawley is out of touch and doesn’t understand how we need a robust network of every provider type, including health departments, hospital clinics, [Federally Qualified Health Centers] and Planned Parenthood to meet the needs,” Trupiano told The Independent on Thursday. “He is determined to decimate the network and reproductive health care for Missourians.”
A spokesperson for Hawley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Title X rules and regulations require pregnant patients to be counseled on all options, including “pregnancy termination.”
Trupiano said while Beacon does offer “all options counseling,” as mandated by federal rules, they do not help set up abortion appointments or transportation to abortion clinics.
Hawley accused Beacon of providing abortion referrals and gender-affirming care.
“They do more than just refer for abortions, they also proclaim their support for all bodies,” Hawley told Kennedy. “They provide gender-affirming care including to young people.”
Gender-affirming care for minors is currently banned in Missouri.
Kennedy said while he agrees with Hawley’s arguments, he determined that the litigation risk of freezing these funds was too high.
The funding is currently in the final year of a five-year grant cycle.
Hawley then asked Kennedy about the possibility of writing regulations that would prevent tax dollars from going toward any groups that make abortion referrals. Kennedy, who supported abortion rights during his 2024 presidential bid, said he was happy to work with Hawley on ideas.
“I’d rather take the risk in litigation than subject children in my states to transgender care funded by federal taxpayer dollars,” Hawley told Kennedy.
Without Title X funding, Trupiano said, clinics across Missouri would close, a consequence that would put a huge amount of strain on the public health safety network. The conversation that unfolded Wednesday, she said, made it clear to her that “the future of care is precarious.”
Through Title X funding, Missouri clinics served 35,000 patients in 2024. Of those, 81% were female, 73% were under the age of 34 and almost 50% uninsured.
“In so many areas, especially rural areas, the Title X clinic is the only place for people to access reproductive and sexual healthcare,” Trupiano said.
The Title X program was created more than half a century ago as a funding stream to support access to family planning options, including contraceptives, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and cancer screenings related to reproductive health.
This isn’t the first time Beacon has been targeted under the second Trump administration.
In April 2025, the Trump administration froze about $27.5 million in Title X funding to a number of states, including several million dollars earmarked for Missouri that were distributed by Beacon. The administration cited compliance concerns around diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in its decision.
This left a number of Missouri clinics scrambling to figure out how to continue providing family planning options like contraceptives at little to no cost for uninsured or underinsured patients.
That funding was restored in July.
This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent.
