Oklahoma AG wants a federal judge to release Oklahoma's family planning funds. Here's why.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is asking a federal judge for a preliminary injunction that would force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide funds from a Title X family planning grant to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.
The Health Department had received the funding for more than 40 years until last May, when the federal agency suspended the $4.5 million grant over a dispute concerning federal rules for Title X. HHS argued that the state could not exclude information about pregnancy termination from the package of other information it was offering clients.
Since HHS suspended the grant, the state Health Department has used $4.5 million appropriated by the state Legislature to continue operating family planning services in Oklahoma.
Drummond sued HHS, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs Jessica Marcella and the HHS Office of Population Affairs in U.S. District Court in November, alleging HHS took millions in Title X money from Oklahoma and Tennessee and instead awarded it to groups that support abortion services. Drummond has said the HHS action penalizes the state for its anti-abortion stance.
The suit seeks reinstatement of Oklahoma’s Title X family planning grant. Monday’s filing requests that while the lawsuit is decided, a judge orders HHS to provide the grant funding to the state Health Department.
A request for comment from an HHS spokesperson wasn’t immediately returned Monday. In November, another HHS spokesperson said the federal agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
What are Title X funds usually used for?
States use Title X grants to offer a range of services. Federal law says Title X grants can’t be used to provide abortion as a method of family planning, but that clients must be provided information about pregnancy termination, along with prenatal care and delivery, infant care, foster care and adoption.
In May, a spokesperson for the state Health Department said the federal agency “has interpreted their rules in such a way as to require OSDH to execute the grant via a policy that is contrary to state law.” Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down its federal abortion rights precedents in 2022, Oklahoma state law has banned most abortions.
The state Health Department has used Title X funds for services such as cancer screening, breast exams, depression screening and pregnancy prevention.
In the lawsuit, Drummond noted federal law stipulates Title X funds cannot be “used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning” and that “Title X in no way requires abortion referrals for a State’s continued participation.”
“I will not stand by while the overzealous Biden Administration attempts to harm Oklahomans in desperate need of health-care services,” Drummond said in a statement. “Oklahoma should not be punished for having pro-life policies that clash with President Biden’s liberal agenda.”
On Monday, Gov. Kevin Stitt said he supports Drummond’s request for a preliminary injunction in the case.
“President Biden is playing political games with the health care needs of countless Oklahomans all because of our pro-family values. It’s wrong," Stitt said in a statement. "The State of Oklahoma won’t stand idly by while the Biden Administration holds millions of federal dollars hostage, and I applaud General Drummond for taking swift action to combat this outrageous abuse of power.”
After HHS suspended the grant, the state Health Department appealed the HHS decision to suspend the grant, and the appeal is being heard by an appeals committee. That committee’s decision is still pending.
However, in October, The Frontier, a nonprofit news organization, reported the Missouri Family Health Council, another nonprofit organization, had received almost $3.3 million in new federal funding earmarked for services in Oklahoma. According to the suit, another Missouri agency, Community Health Connection Inc., received $216,000 in similar federal funds.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma asks judge to reinstate US DHHS Title X funds
