Tennessee cuts HIV program with Planned Parenthood ties
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee answers questioning during a panel discussion at the Republican Governors Association conference on Nov. 15, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. According to a letter from Planned Parenthood, Tennessee's Department of Health in November alerted the organization that it would no longer receive HIV prevention grants starting in 2023, as well as warn that the state was terminating its partnership with the organization to provide HIV testing. Planned Parenthood declared that Lee's administration was choosing the “nuclear option” in order to avoid having to work with the organization. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Fri, January 20, 2023 at 2:17 PM MST·5 min read
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Top Tennessee health officials attempted to oust Planned Parenthood from a program designed to prevent and treat HIV before eventually deciding to forgo federal funding for the program, despite warnings that doing so will have a devastating impact on marginalized communities, documents show.
The decision is the latest development in a ruby red state where abortion is already banned. Republicans leaders, however, have actively tried to cut off public ties with the organization for any other services, due to its long history of offering and defending abortion care.
According to a letter from Planned Parenthood, Tennessee's Department of Health in November alerted the organization that it would no longer receive HIV prevention grants starting in 2023, as well as warn that the state was terminating its partnership with Planned Parenthood to provide HIV testing.
The letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, was sent to the health agency's general counsel, Mary Katherine Bratton, on Nov. 16.
The document states that United Way — which distributes the HIV federal funding grant on the health agency's behalf — said the department wanted to sever ties with Planned Parenthood “for reasons wholly unrelated to the purpose of the program.”
“As United Way reported: ‘TDH said given the current political climate we are not moving forward with funding Planned Parenthood,’ and TDH 'can no longer directly or indirectly fund (Planned Parenthood),'” wrote Planned Parenthood's attorney Alan E. Schoenfeld.
Schoenfeld added that Planned Parenthood wanted to avoid litigation and requested a meeting later that month. The issue was eventually dropped until this week, when the Department of Health announced it was choosing to walk away from the federal HIV prevention, detection and treatment funding and instead would rely on state funding for such efforts starting June 1. The Commercial Appeal was the first to report the announcement.
The department’s move was a shock to many of the participating organizations tasked with providing vital HIV services across the state. Planned Parenthood, which has worked with the state to distribute free condoms for more than a decade, declared that Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s administration was choosing the “nuclear option” in order to avoid having to work with the organization.
“This is yet another public health crisis manufactured by Gov. Lee,” said Ashley Coffield, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi. “They are using Planned Parenthood as the entry way to take down the whole sexual and reproductive health care system. We’re often the most public target, but this affects so many groups.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health declined to directly answer questions about why they attempted to cut Planned Parenthood from the HIV program in November. Instead, they provided a Jan. 17 letter explaining that “prior administrations” had decided to accept the federal funding for HIV surveillance but the state has determined “it is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the State to assume direct financial and managerial responsibility for these services.”
“The funding for this HIV prevention program is very important and it’s important that it is spent effectively and efficiently in the ways that best serve Tennessee,” Lee told reporters Friday. “We think we can do that better than the strings attached with the federal dollars that came our way and that’s why we made that decision.”
Tennessee’s health agency’s website says the CDC grant helps fund: “HIV counseling, testing and referral, HIV partner counseling and referral services, HIV health education and risk reduction programs, HIV prevention for positive individuals, public information programs, a toll-free HIV/STD hotline, capacity building programs, and a quality assurance and evaluation component.”
The website goes on to say that state funding provides additional support for HIV testing, but it does not give an amount.
Separately, Lee appointed Ralph Alvarado as the new health commissioner in late November. Alvarado is a former Kentucky state senator who has publicly opposed most abortion access. Alvarado officially took over the role on Monday, just two days before the department announced it would cut off the HIV federal funding.
Planned Parenthood has since been removed from the health agency’s website that lists community organizations that distribute free condoms.
“There’s nothing pro-life about punishing people who are living with HIV and enabling this virus to spread undetected,” said Democratic state Sen. London Lamar of Memphis.
Lamar added that public health efforts have helped slow the spread of HIV in Tennessee and that cutting off federal funding “endangers the lives of Tennesseans.”
Planned Parenthood has partnered with Tennessee’s Department of Health to provide HIV testing since 2008, when Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen was in office. Four years later, under then Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration, the health agency attempted to remove Planned Parenthood from the program — a move that was ultimately challenged in court.
A district court later found that the department had targeted Planned Parenthood “based upon their First Amendment activity for advocating abortion” and issued a permanent injunction preventing the state from dissolving any partnership with the organization because of their abortion care advocacy. That injunction is still in place.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood has been forced to stop all abortion services ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion last year.
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Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.
Tennessee says it's cutting federal HIV funding. Will other GOP states follow?
Erika Edwards
Fri, January 20, 2023
Health officials in Tennessee say they will reject federal funding for groups that provide services to residents living with HIV.
Earlier this week, the Tennessee Department of Health announced it would no longer accept grant money from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earmarked for testing, prevention and treatment of HIV.
In an email reviewed by NBC News, the Department of Health told certain nonprofit organizations that provide these services that the state would turn down the federal funding as of June, relying only on state funds afterward. "It is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the State to assume direct financial and managerial response for these services," the email read.
When asked for comment by NBC News, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said that "the letter speaks for itself."
An estimated 20,000 people in Tennessee are living with HIV, though not all would be affected by the cuts. There was no further guidance on how the state planned to fund such programs on its own.
The move stunned HIV experts.
"I can't understand why the state would give back funds targeted toward health care," said Diane Duke, president and chief executive officer of Friends for Life, a Memphis group that provides services to people living with HIV. Friends for Life was among the groups that received notice from the state. "It's outrageous," she said.
Shelby County, where Memphis is located, is among the nation's counties with the highest rates of HIV and AIDS. In 2020, 819 per 100,000 Shelby County residents had HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And those were only the people who'd received an official diagnosis.
"A lot of people are walking around with HIV, and they don't even realize it," Duke said. Providing testing for the virus is a major part of the work Friends for Life carries out. "Once somebody has tested positive, we are able to get them into care immediately," she said.
Greg Millett, director of public policy for the nonprofit group amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, called the decision "devastating." He is concerned that Tennessee health officials are setting a dangerous precedent.
"If other states follow suit," Millett said, "we're going to be in trouble."
Millet said that the CDC provides Tennessee as much as $10 million in HIV funding. It remains unclear how much of that money will be turned away.
He said he worries that the state's directive will lead to discrimination against marginalized groups most at risk for HIV.
"The overwhelming majority of new HIV cases are among gay and bisexual men, transgender populations, heterosexual women, as well as people who inject drugs," he said.
"We have the tools needed to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in terms of prevention and care," Millett said. "If Tennessee is not using those tools, not using CDC funding and not focusing on the groups most at risk for HIV, we have the possibility of an outbreak."
The CDC provides millions of dollars each year to states for HIV testing kits, condoms and medications to prevent infection, called PrEP.
In a statement provided to NBC News on Friday, the CDC said that it was unaware that Tennessee — or any other state — planned to stop accepting the grant money.
"We have not received any official notification from the Tennessee Department of Health withdrawing from CDC's HIV prevention funding," the CDC said. Without such notice, the CDC will automatically continue payments to the state.
The federal agency also said that it would "certainly be concerned if the services people in Tennessee need to stay healthy were interrupted or if public health capacity to respond to HIV outbreaks and bring an end to this epidemic were hindered."
Follow NBC HEALTH on Twitter & Facebook.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Erika Edwards
Fri, January 20, 2023
Health officials in Tennessee say they will reject federal funding for groups that provide services to residents living with HIV.
Earlier this week, the Tennessee Department of Health announced it would no longer accept grant money from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earmarked for testing, prevention and treatment of HIV.
In an email reviewed by NBC News, the Department of Health told certain nonprofit organizations that provide these services that the state would turn down the federal funding as of June, relying only on state funds afterward. "It is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the State to assume direct financial and managerial response for these services," the email read.
When asked for comment by NBC News, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said that "the letter speaks for itself."
An estimated 20,000 people in Tennessee are living with HIV, though not all would be affected by the cuts. There was no further guidance on how the state planned to fund such programs on its own.
The move stunned HIV experts.
"I can't understand why the state would give back funds targeted toward health care," said Diane Duke, president and chief executive officer of Friends for Life, a Memphis group that provides services to people living with HIV. Friends for Life was among the groups that received notice from the state. "It's outrageous," she said.
Shelby County, where Memphis is located, is among the nation's counties with the highest rates of HIV and AIDS. In 2020, 819 per 100,000 Shelby County residents had HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And those were only the people who'd received an official diagnosis.
"A lot of people are walking around with HIV, and they don't even realize it," Duke said. Providing testing for the virus is a major part of the work Friends for Life carries out. "Once somebody has tested positive, we are able to get them into care immediately," she said.
Greg Millett, director of public policy for the nonprofit group amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, called the decision "devastating." He is concerned that Tennessee health officials are setting a dangerous precedent.
"If other states follow suit," Millett said, "we're going to be in trouble."
Millet said that the CDC provides Tennessee as much as $10 million in HIV funding. It remains unclear how much of that money will be turned away.
He said he worries that the state's directive will lead to discrimination against marginalized groups most at risk for HIV.
"The overwhelming majority of new HIV cases are among gay and bisexual men, transgender populations, heterosexual women, as well as people who inject drugs," he said.
"We have the tools needed to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in terms of prevention and care," Millett said. "If Tennessee is not using those tools, not using CDC funding and not focusing on the groups most at risk for HIV, we have the possibility of an outbreak."
The CDC provides millions of dollars each year to states for HIV testing kits, condoms and medications to prevent infection, called PrEP.
In a statement provided to NBC News on Friday, the CDC said that it was unaware that Tennessee — or any other state — planned to stop accepting the grant money.
"We have not received any official notification from the Tennessee Department of Health withdrawing from CDC's HIV prevention funding," the CDC said. Without such notice, the CDC will automatically continue payments to the state.
The federal agency also said that it would "certainly be concerned if the services people in Tennessee need to stay healthy were interrupted or if public health capacity to respond to HIV outbreaks and bring an end to this epidemic were hindered."
Follow NBC HEALTH on Twitter & Facebook.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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