The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an abortion-related appeal from Oklahoma, ruling that the Biden administration could cut off funding for Planned Parenthood programs that don’t offer pregnant patients “factual information” about all of their options, including abortion.
In a one-line order, the justices rejected Oklahoma’s appeal over the dissent of Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch.
State attorneys argued that Oklahoma opposed all abortions and should not be required to refer women for abortions.
In defense of the longstanding federal guidelines, the Biden administration said the programs are supposed to do nothing more than provide patients with a “third-party hotline” that can provide information about prenatal care, adoptions or abortions.
In early August, Oklahoma lawyers filed an urgent appeal with the Supreme Court. They sought to renew a $4.5 million grant, asserting the state’s authority to enforce a ban on all abortions.
Two years ago, when the court struck down abortion rights in the Dobbs case, the justices said in a 5-4 majority that they were returning the issue of abortion to the states.
Oklahoma officials told the court that they are “exercising that right. … The elected representatives of the people of Oklahoma prohibited abortion except to preserve the life of the woman and prohibited the counseling of a woman to have an abortion.”
This was a federal program that had provided grants to states for family planning programs since 1970.
Congress said these “Title X” grants could not be used “in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.”
In 2004, Congress passed the Weldon Amendment, which said the government may not discriminate against hospitals, insurance companies or other health care programs that refuse to pay for abortion or provide abortion referrals. Oklahoma cited both laws in its appeal.
But under the Democratic administration, federal officials required states and their grant programs to offer patients “neutral, factual information and non-directive counseling” about their options, including prenatal care, adoption and abortion.
Oklahoma initially agreed to follow the rules, but last year reversed course and refused to provide patients with a hotline number where patients could get more information if they chose to do so. At that point, the Department of Health and Human Services canceled the state small grant.
Oklahoma sued and lost before a federal judge and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Those justices ruled for the Biden administration, saying state grant recipients were not required to provide abortion referrals. “The mere act of sharing a national telephone number” would not “constitute a recommendation to facilitate an abortion,” the appeals court said in a 2-1 decision.
Prosecutors sought an order that would restore their grant.
Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar urged the court to dismiss the appeal. Oklahoma refused to “comply with the agreed terms that are currently in place for all other Title X grant recipients in the country,” she said.
Tennessee, Ohio and 10 other Republican states also sued to challenge the administration’s rules on Title X grants, but none of them succeeded in lower courts.
