WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Oklahoma’s emergency request to restore a $4.5 million grant for family planning services over the state’s refusal to refer pregnant women to a statewide hotline that provides information about abortion and other options.
As is customary, the order did not detail the court’s reasoning, but said three justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch – sided with Oklahoma.
Lower courts had ruled that the U.S. Department of Health’s decision to exclude Oklahoma from the funds did not violate federal law.
The case stems from a dispute over state abortion restrictions and federal subsidies under a family planning program known as Title X. That dispute has only intensified since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and banned abortion in many Republican-led states.
Clinics are prohibited from using state family planning funds to pay for abortions, but must offer patients information about abortion upon request, according to the federal regulation in question. The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Oklahoma argues that it cannot meet its obligation to provide abortion counseling and services because the state’s abortion ban makes it a crime to “advise any person to have an abortion or to procure one for any woman.”
The government said it offered a plan that would allow referrals to the national hotline, but the state rejected it as inadequate. As a result, the federal government cut off the state’s Title X funding.
In 2021, the Biden administration lifted a ban on abortion services provided by clinics that accept Title X funds. The restriction was originally enacted in 2019 during Donald Trump’s administration, but the policy has fluctuated back and forth for years depending on who is in the White House.
Tennessee is currently pursuing a similar lawsuit that is still being heard in lower courts. Oklahoma and ten other states have also filed separate lawsuits challenging the federal regulation.
Oklahoma says it will distribute the money to about 70 city and county health departments for family planning, infertility care and adolescent services. For rural communities in particular, the state health facilities “can be the only access points for critical preventive services within dozens or even hundreds of miles,” Oklahoma’s Supreme Court complaint says.
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Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story.
