Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) has joined more than 100 House Democrats in urging the Trump administration to reinstate workers at the Office of Population Affairs (OPA), following their dismissal on October 15. The group sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., expressing concern about the firings.
The OPA oversees programs such as Title X, which provides family planning services to 2.8 million people annually. Title X was first introduced in 1970 by then-Congressman George H.W. Bush from Texas’ Seventh Congressional District. OPA also runs the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program and offers resources for embryo donation and adoption for families facing fertility issues.
In their letter, the lawmakers wrote: “We write to express our grave concern at the recent actions by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to terminate nearly the entire staff at the Office of Population Affairs (OPA). The OPA oversees the nation’s only federal program dedicated to family planning, the Title X program, among other vital reproductive health programs. These firings will severely undermine the functionality of the office, hindering the Title X program’s ability to operate effectively, and threatening the loss of health care for many of the millions of people that these programs support annually.”
They continued: “On October 10, all but one of the 50 employees at the OPA lost access to their government email accounts. Five days later, they received confirmation from human resources that they were subject to a reduction in force (RIF).”
The letter also stated: “These RIFs are another example of this Administration’s ongoing assault on the Title X program, birth control, and reproductive health care access more broadly. Earlier this year, HHS illegally withheld $65 million in Congressionally appropriated funding for the Title X program from 16 grantees with grants in 23 states, threatening essential health care access for an estimated 842,000 people, or 30 percent of all Title X patients. Nine of the impacted Title X grantees have yet to have their funding restored seven months later. Many of these affected grantees struggle to sustain the financial burden caused by the extended delay in funding and the ongoing attacks on reproductive health care from this Administration and Congressional Republicans. As a result, they have been forced to close health centers, lay off staff, and reduce available services. As we pass week three of a government shutdown and as Republicans refuse to address the health care crisis they created, the President’s FY2026 budget proposal and House Republicans’ partisan spending bill would only make the situation worse by seeking to eliminate the Title X program entirely.”
“For more than 50 years,” lawmakers noted further in their letter, “Title X has served as a cornerstone of safety-net care. Title X-funded health centers are lifelines in their communities, providing high-quality family planning and sexual health care, including cancer screenings, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, HIV testing, contraceptive services and supplies, pregnancy testing, and other essential health care services.”
They added: “The bipartisan Title X program, championed by then-Congressman George H.W. Bush and signed into law by President Nixon, served 2.8 million people in 2023. For many of those patients especially in rural and underserved communities; Title X health centers are their only source of health care. In 2023 alone; Title X supported 3;853 health centers across all fifty states; D.C.; & U.S territories.The RIFed OPA employees are essential administering these grants,and without them clinics will be left without needed support continue provide critical services.”
The letter concluded: “Undermining federal government’s ability effectively administer funds will unquestionably result loss healthcare patients depend dismantling threatens rip away critical services millions Americans thousands centers urge immediately reinstate employees so can continue carry out essential functions.”
Congresswoman Escobar has won several recent elections against Irene Armendariz-Jackson—in both 2022 with approximately 59%–64% majorities over multiple cycles—and against Rick Seeberger in her initial election victory.
