EVANSTON — Evanston’s Family Planning office closed its doors March 31, due to a lack of grant funding. 

Public Law 91-572 (Title X), is a federal grant program that was enacted in 1970, under Pres. Richard Nixon, allowing people to have access to contraceptive and reproductive services, along with related health services — also known as family planning services.

Title X is a subsidy for these programs to help people who are below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

The amount that’s left over is handled by insurance, patient fees, and other funding sources, some of which depends on the community.

Family Planning is a stand-alone agency, which means they look for other funding sources, such as United Way, Title X funding and support from the county. 

Officials aren’t sure if Title X funding will continue. 

“It is under huge scrutiny, and it’s because of the misinformation,” said Amanda Stearns, executive director of Western Wyoming Reproductive Health. “There is so much misinformation where people are not supporting these kinds of clinics because of things like abortion, and abortion is not a family planning service,” 

“Abortion is never a Family Planning option,” Stearns said. “Options counseling is valuable for people; however, an abortion is not a means of family planning. Contraceptives … are.”

Stearns said that there are also concerns that grant funding would be lost for clinics that merely offer abortion counseling. 

With muddy waters, it is still uncertain what will actually come of Title X. 

“There is so much going on with the ACA (Affordable Care Act) and the changes they are proposing to Medicaid that there is still possibly an option that Family Planning will be overlooked,” said Stearns. “They are trying to prepare us on a national level.”

Stearns said that if their funding were pulled they would have to make a difficult decision; that they would not be able to be sustainable. 

“We wanted to make sure that we were able to do it on our time, and not because we were forced to later,” Stearns said.

Site manager Mary Hutchings worked at Family Planning in Evanston for 27 years. She’s bilingual, so she’s been able to help many more people on a more personal level, Stearns said.

Stearns said the decision to close was basically a no-brainer, considering Hutchings was considering retirement and it seemed like a good time to end it on their own terms. 

For the course of the next three years, there is still an option for people to utilize the agency in Rock Springs. 

 “If you say you are going to pursue things when given a grant for it, you have to make it work for those years regardless of how much money you lose,” said Stearns. 

For more information or if you have Family Planning needs, you may contact Amanda Stearns at (307) 362-6813 or stearnsa@sweet.wy.us.