Supreme Court won’t allow Oklahoma to reclaim federal money in dispute over abortion referrals

[Pelican Press 0]

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Supreme Court won’t allow Oklahoma to reclaim federal money in dispute over ********* referrals

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Oklahoma’s emergency appeal seeking to restore a $4.5 million grant for

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in an ongoing dispute over the state’s refusal to refer pregnant women to a nationwide hotline that provides information about

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and other options.

The brief order did not detail the court’s reasoning, as is typical, but says three justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — would have sided with Oklahoma.

Lower courts had ruled that the federal Health and Human Services Department’s decision to cut off Oklahoma from the funds did not violate federal law.

The case stems from a dispute over

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provided under a family planning program known as Title X that has only grown more heated since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and many ***********-led states outlawed *********.

Clinics cannot use federal family planning money to pay for abortions, but they must offer information about ********* at the patient’s request, under the federal regulation at issue. The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Oklahoma argues that it can’t comply with a requirement to provide ********* counseling and referrals because the state’s ********* ban makes it a ****** for “any person to advise or procure an ********* for any woman.”

The administration said it offered an accommodation that would allow referrals to the national hotline, but the state rejected that as insufficient. The federal government then cut off the state’s Title X funds.

In 2021, the Biden administration reversed a ban on ********* referrals by clinics that accept Title X funds. The restriction was initially enacted during the Donald Trump administration in 2019, but the policy has swung back and forth for years, depending upon who is in the White House.

Tennessee is pursuing

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that ******** in the lower courts. Oklahoma and 10 other states also are mounting a separate challenge to the federal regulation.

Oklahoma says it distributes the money to around 70 city and county health departments for family planning, infertility help and services for adolescents. For rural communities especially, the government-run health facilities can be “the only access points for critical preventative services for tens or even hundreds of miles,” Oklahoma said in its Supreme Court filing.

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Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story.

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