The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Biden administration on Tuesday to cut $4.5 million in federal funding for Oklahoma’s family planning projects after the state refused to provide abortion-related referrals. Oklahoma had requested the Court block the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from terminating its funding for 2024 while the state appealed a lower court ruling that supported the administration’s decision to cut the grant.
The conflict centers on Oklahoma’s refusal to comply with a requirement under Title X of the Public Health Service Act, which mandates abortion referrals as part of the family planning services funded by federal grants. A 2021 federal rule requires these referrals to offer basic factual information, such as contact details for medical providers. Biden’s administration also highlighted that federal law protects those with religious objections from making such referrals.
After Oklahoma’s near-total abortion ban went into effect following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the state’s health department stopped providing abortion referrals and rejected an alternative federal proposal for patients to access a national hotline for “nondirective counseling and referral information.”
Oklahoma sued, claiming that cutting the grant violated constitutional limits on how Congress conditions federal funds. However, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the state’s request to block the funding cut in July, leading Oklahoma to seek relief from the Supreme Court. Biden’s administration argued that the state had accepted the grant knowing the referral requirements had been part of the Title X program for most of its history.
The Supreme Court refused Oklahoma’s request to block the funding cut, allowing the Biden administration’s action to stand while the state’s appeal proceeds.
