The Biden administration has the right to keep a sizable amount of grant money from Oklahoma as a result of a ruling by the US Supreme Court. It was determined that this ruling was necessary because the state failed to give patients who sought abortions information about abortion providers. The nine-member court announced its decision not to grant the state’s request for an injunction in an order that became public on Tuesday. The decision was reached with a result of 6-3. The state of Oklahoma presented a request for relief, and there were three people who would have granted it. These individuals were Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch.
The Tuesday order came to the conclusion that two earlier rulings by lower courts were correct. In those rulings, the judges came to the conclusion that the state of Oklahoma’s case against Vice President Joe Biden’s administration regarding the return of the funds was not likely to succeed.
The Title X family planning programme is the subject of the legal dispute, and the organisation that is in charge of disbursing the grant that is at the core of the conflict is the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services mandated that grant recipients must provide “non-directive” and impartial information regarding health and family planning options, including information on abortion. Additionally, grant recipients are required to provide individuals with referrals to medical professionals, including those who perform abortion services. This mandate was implemented through the implementation of a new rule.
According to the documents that were filed in the court, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provided a grant to the health department of Oklahoma the following year. However, the HHS also warned the state that it was obliged to comply with the new rule. Following the overturning of the landmark Dobbs decision in 2022, which had reversed the national right to abortion, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) once again stressed this particular argument. A bill that is considered to be among the most draconian abortion restrictions in the country was enacted by the governor of Oklahoma in the same year. On the other hand, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) came to the conclusion that the state statute did not prevent them from fulfilling the requirement of providing objective information regarding abortion and referrals to providers upon request.
The Department of Health and Human Services awarded the state of Oklahoma yet another Title X grant in March of the previous year. The state accepted this money. In order to satisfy the requirements of the 2021 regulation, the state made a commitment to provide patients with a “national call-in” phone line that would provide them with information that was objective. The state made this commitment. Nevertheless, by the month of May, officials in Oklahoma had removed the phone number, which caused the Department of Health and Human Services to provide the state with a thirty-day period to comply with the laws. Having said that, Oklahoma did not abide by the HHS’s request.
During the month of September, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) moved the grant money totalling $4.5 million away from the state and instead awarded it to groups that were situated in the state of Missouri. Oklahoma filed appeals, and in November, the state attorney general filed a lawsuit against the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, claiming that officials from the Biden administration had “overreached” by taking the funds. The case was filed against the Biden administration over the removal of the funds.