MANCHESTER, N.H. —
Two members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation are highlighting the uncertainty facing family planning clinics under a federal funding freeze.

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan and U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander said access to care is already shrinking in the region.

They said the Trump administration’s freeze of more than $65 million in Title X family planning funds could have serious consequences.

“The services that Planned Parenthood provides with this federal funding – and I want to be really clear about this – are cancer screenings, access to contraception and other lifesaving health screenings,” Hassan said.

Goodlander said cutting the funding for preventative care would result in higher costs down the road.

“What turning off this funding stream and this usurpation of dollars that were promised to this state and were promised to the American people – it’s going to jack up costs,” she said. “It’s a basic fairness issue, and it’s a basic freedom issue.”

New Hampshire Right to Life said the Trump administration is doing the right thing by halting the funds. Planned Parenthood in New Hampshire already dealt with the cuts and is fighting the total elimination of the family planning program in the state budget, but the overall footprint of such services is diminishing.

“Planned Parenthood of Northen New England in five weeks has to close the St. Johnsbury location, which is just over the border, and that was a really important access point for North Country residents,” said Kayla Montgomery, of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. “About 16% of the patients seen at that location are Granite Staters.”