Oklahoma asked the U.S. Supreme Court this week to force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to release millions of dollars in grants the agency withdrew over the state’s refusal to provide abortion referrals.
HHS takes the position that Oklahoma ceased to be entitled to the funding when it made clear it would not include abortion in its information about family planning services.
Abortion is banned in Oklahoma except when it is deemed necessary to save the life of the mother. The state’s current abortion law took effect after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the regulation of abortion to the states.
The application comes after two other courts denied the state’s request for relief.
Funding is provided to states under Title X of the Public Health Service Act, which was enacted in 1970. The funds may be used for family planning services but may not be used for abortions.
A 2021 HHS regulation provides that entities receiving funding must “offer pregnant clients the opportunity” to receive “neutral, factual information” regarding family planning options, including abortion.
In Oklahoma, the state distributes the money to city and county health departments, which use it to promote family planning, including services aimed at infertility and young people.
Dispute Over Law
The state law, signed by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt in April 2022, made performing an abortion a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.After some state lawmakers expressed concern about the law, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a formal legal opinion released in November 2023 that pregnant women could not be punished for seeking or deliberately self-inducing abortions.
HHS countered that the state could still qualify for the Title X funds if it were to provide individuals “with neutral information about family-planning options (including abortion) through a national call-in number,” according to court papers.
Oklahoma said state law prevented it from complying with the request and rejected the proposal. HHS followed up and in 2023 terminated the state’s annual $4.5 million grant, the application says.
According to the state, this decision constituted unjustified policy-based political interference in the state’s affairs by the federal government.
“HHS deliberately sought to impose the executive branch’s policy preferences ... and upset the federal-state balance on this important issue,” the document continues.
The state argues that the federal government’s decision to withhold family planning program funds is part of an effort to “impose” its pro-abortion policy preferences on the state.
Oklahoma urged the Supreme Court to act, arguing that HHS is violating the Constitution.
Federal law doesn’t require a recipient of Title X funding to refer women to abortion providers, the state says.
“The lack of clear notice by Congress of any requirement to offer abortion referrals renders HHS’s termination of Oklahoma’s Title X funding violative of the Spending Clause. Oklahoma has an indisputably clear right to relief.”
The U.S. Constitution’s spending clause authorizes Congress to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and the general Welfare of the United States.”
Oklahoma has asked the Supreme Court to make a decision on the application by Aug. 30.
The Epoch Times reached out for comment to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is representing HHS, but did not receive a reply at publication time.
