The availability of services to help clients achieve pregnancy depends on if the clinic receives funding through Title X, according to a study co-authored by Dr. Marie Thoma, assistant professor of family science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
Title X is a federal grant program that provides individuals with family planning and preventative health services. In 2013-2014, about half of publicly funded clinics that provided family planning services received Title X funding.
Thoma, along with her co-authors, analyzed survey responses from 1,615 publicly funded clinics that provide family planning services and found that those funded by Title X were less likely to offer infertility treatments than their non-Title X-funded counterparts. However, clinics funded by Title X were also more likely to provide reproductive life plan assessments as well as screenings for sexually transmitted diseases, body mass index and men’s preconception health care than their counterparts.
Researchers say their findings indicate that publicly funded clinics providing family planning services are an under-recognized resource.
“Offering these services at all publicly funded family planning clinics can help people to achieve their desired number and spacing of children and lead to improved health outcomes,” the study concludes.
Thoma’s past research has focused on the importance of addressing women’s health to improve family health, both in the US and internationally.
Published in Women’s Health Issues, the study was chosen as the Editor’s Choice for the November/December issue.