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Raising the stakes in an ideologically charged standoff over women’s health, Planned Parenthood said Wednesday it will soon leave the federal family planning program unless a court puts a hold on Trump administration rules that bar clinics from referring patients for abortions. The administration responded that it is ready to operate the Title X family planning program without the organization that has been the largest provider. About 4 million women are served nationwide under the program, which distributes $260 million in grants to clinics. It’s unclear how many patients would be affected. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 8/14)

The result of the agency’s withdrawal — unless the court should rule against the administration before Aug. 19 — will vary greatly by state, said Erica Sackin, a spokeswoman for the organization. Some states have pledged to make up the funds. But in others where that isn’t the case, especially rural areas where providers can be many miles from one other, the effect is likely to be “chaos,” she said. (Cha, 8/14)

In a statement to NPR on Wednesday afternoon, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson wrote, "To the extent that Planned Parenthood claims that it must make burdensome changes to comply with the Final Rule, it is actually choosing to place a higher priority on the ability to refer for abortion instead of continuing to receive federal funds to provide a broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and services to clients in need of these services." (McCammon, 8/14)

Planned Parenthood serves about 40 percent of the more than 4 million low-income women nationwide who depend on Title X clinics for free and subsidized birth control, STI screenings and other health services. A few states including Washington and Maryland have committed to replacing any lost Title X money with state funds to keep clinics that refuse to operate under the new rules afloat. (Ollstein, 8/14)

Planned Parenthood will leave a federally funded family planning program Monday unless a court blocks the Trump administration's new restrictions on abortion providers. While Planned Parenthood stopped using Title X family planning funds last month after the administration announced it would begin enforcing the restrictions, it told the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) it would stay in the program while it sues over the changes. But the administration told Planned Parenthood it must completely exit the program by Monday if it does not plan to fully comply with the rules, regardless of whether it is using the money. (Hellmann, 8/14)