Oklahoma has asked the Supreme Court for permission to stop the Biden administration from rejecting the state-federal family planning assistance amid a disagreement over abortion counseling.
The US Department of Health and Human Services requires Oklahoma’s programs to give a call-in number to a nationwide hotline that provides information about family planning alternatives, including abortion, in exchange for $4.5 million in Title X family planning subsidies.
However, Oklahoma argued in filings submitted Wednesday to Justice Neil Gorsuch, who oversees emergency matters arising from the state, that this requirement violates a law prohibiting discrimination against health entities that refuse to refer for abortion, as well as a Supreme Court precedent on the use of Title X funding for abortion.
The state also cited the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision repealing national abortion rights, which allowed the state’s abortion ban to take effect.
“HHS’s regulation imposes on Oklahoma a requirement concerning an issue that has been recognized as specifically reserved for the people to address in Dobbs,” Oklahoma stated, citing the 2022 ruling. It asserted that the Biden administration had “deliberately sought to impose the executive branch’s policy preferences on the states, including Oklahoma, and upset the federal-state balance on this important issue.”
The Oklahoma State Department of Health disburses federal funds to public health programs and county health departments around the state.
“These county health departments are part of the frontline of healthcare in Oklahoma, and they provide comprehensive, connected care to numerous patients,” according to the paperwork. “Depriving those communities of Title X services would be devastating.”
Previously in the case, the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected to issue an order prohibiting the Biden administration from withholding the awards. The 2-1 decision determined that HHS had the power to enforce the mandate and that supplying the national hotline number did not constitute an abortion referral under the applicable legislation.
According to CNN, Oklahoma has petitioned the Supreme Court to act by August 30, as the federal government has agreed to wait until that date before awarding grants that would otherwise have gone to the state.