One of the nation’s largest reproductive health advocacy groups is suing the Trump administration earlier this year for withholding millions of dollars in federal family planning grants.
The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in US District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday, alleging that the Department of Health and Human Services, $65.8 million, was “illegally withheld” in the TitleX fund against 16 family planning groups.
TitleX is the country’s only federally funded family planning program that provides birth control and reproductive health care to low-income Americans.
More than 12 family planning organizations, including nine planners, received a letter in late March saying the Trump administration was planning to “temporarily withhold” funds for the Title X grant that it had been assigned.
The administration recovered millions on fundraising a few days later, but those dollars went to health departments in Oklahoma and Tennessee. This was forbidden from receiving the Title X fund during the Biden administration for violating some of the program’s rules.
“The results of withholding are devastating,” said Claire Coleman, president and CEO of NFPRHA.
“The loss of Title X means that hundreds of thousands of patients are at risk of losing access to critical health care.”
Since funding was frozen, more than 860 family planning service sites in 22 states have been unable to provide “critical health care” such as birth control, cancer screening, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Litigation.
At least seven states, California, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and Utah, have not had TitleX-funded family planning services long before, the lawsuit adds.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to force HHS to distribute Title X to 16 groups who have withheld the grants and paid the legal costs of the NFPRHA and ACLU in conjunction with filing the suit.
They allege that by withholding funds, the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law that was almost 80 years ago that governs the processes federal agencies use to create and implement new regulations.
They also argue that HHS acted “arbitrally and whimsically” in deciding to withhold the 16 family planning groups title X funds because it did not provide a “rational explanation or justification” for its actions.
The plaintiffs argue that the agency targeted these specific family planning groups to create official statements in favour of diversity, equity, inclusion and oppositional racism. press release From NFPRHA.
HHS did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit from Hill.
Bridget Amiri, Associate Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said:
“In its enthusiasm to strip reproductive health care from marginalized communities, the federal government must violate its own laws and be held accountable.”
