Allows Biden administration to rescind $4.5 million due to state abortion ban
The Supreme Court refused to reinstate $4.5 million in federal funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to Oklahoma family planning services this week. The state has declined to provide abortion referrals or share a national abortion information hotline, which ran afoul of the HHS 2021 rule requiring nondirective counseling on prenatal care, adoption, and abortion with information on access to those services.
President Biden’s administration made a case that it was within its right under the 1970 law Title X to rescind the grant funding in response to Oklahoma’s new laws imposing a near-total ban on abortion. The state’s ban prevents family planning services from offering patients with abortion referrals of any kind.
Oklahoma’s petition stated, “HHS’s regulation foists upon Oklahoma a requirement concerning an issue that has been recognized as specifically reserved to the people to address in Dobbs.” The petition also claimed that the federal government was in violation of the Constitution’s spending clause and an amendment that protects providers who refuse to refer for abortions on moral or religious grounds.
The Supreme Court refused the case after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the state’s claims.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the justices of the Supreme Court as they hear petitions in cases where federal jurisdiction and funding are at odds with states’ rights.
- For the hearts and minds of Secretary Becerra and HHS officials to be drawn toward the Lord and His value of unborn human life.
Sources: Reuters, Washington Examiner
