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The justices denied Oklahoma's request to block the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services from terminating the
funding for 2024 while the state appeals a lower court's
decision siding with the administration's action to cut the
grant.
The dispute involves Oklahoma's refusal to provide abortion
referrals as required for grants under a 1970 law known as Title
X of the Public Health Service Act to help states and non-profit
entities provide a broad range of family planning options.
A 2021 federal rule requires abortion referrals that may provide
basic factual and contact information for medical providers but
no other action such as making an appointment. Biden's
administration also noted that federal law protects those with
religious objections from referring for abortions.
A near-total abortion ban took effect in Oklahoma after the
Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v.
Wade that had legalized abortion nationwide.
The state's health department then halted abortion referrals and
rejected federal officials' alternative proposal to provide
patients with a national hotline to call to receive
"nondirective counseling and referral information."
After the administration cut Oklahoma's grant, the state sued,
arguing that the termination violated limits under the U.S.
Constitution on how Congress attaches conditions to federal
funds.
In July the Denver, Colorado-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals refused to block the action, prompting the state to seek
the Supreme Court's intervention.
Biden's administration urged the justices to reject Oklahoma's
argument, saying the state "sought and accepted a grant with
full knowledge that it was agreeing to comply with counseling
and referral requirements that have governed the Title X program
for most of its 54-year history."
The Supreme Court had previously agreed to hear a dispute over a
2019 Title X regulation implemented under Republican former
President Donald Trump that barred funds for abortion referrals,
but dismissed the matter after Biden, who defeated Trump in the
2020 election, promised to reverse course.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Scott Malone and Stephen
Coates)
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