Press Releases
04/12/2022
Attorney General Tong Joins Coalition Fighting to Protect Family Planning Funding
Group of 23 Attorneys General File Brief in Support of Biden-Harris Administration Rule Restoring Access to Title X Funding
(Hartford, CT) -- Attorney General William Tong has taken legal action to protect access to reproductive health care and restore federal funding for family planning services. The coalition of 23 attorneys general from across the nation, led by New York and California, filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, supporting the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to reverse the restrictive Trump-era gag rule and restore Title X funding to providers forced to leave the Title X program under the Trump-era restrictions. The new Title X rule, issued in 2021 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), removes the Trump administration’s harmful restrictions on family planning funding and ensures the distribution of Title X funds to a greater number of family planning and health services providers that deliver care to millions of low-income or uninsured individuals and others.The Title X program funds family planning counseling and access to various contraceptive methods, as well as critical screenings for high blood pressure, anemia, diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases, as well as cervical and breast cancer.
The brief – filed in the case Ohio v. Becerra – opposes continued efforts by a group of plaintiff states to halt implementation of the new HHS rule. Those plaintiff states are appealing a December 2021 decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, which rejected their request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the continued application of the new rule.
Connecticut’s Title X providers, including Planned Parenthood of Southern New England and the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, are both currently receiving funding.
“Title X funding has allowed tens of thousands of Connecticut patients to receive safe, affordable family planning and preventative health care. We cannot allow that life-saving care to be blocked by partisan politics. The gag rule was an unlawful and invasive intrusion in the private relationships between patients and medical providers, and we join the Biden-Harris administration in fighting to preserve access to care,” said Attorney General Tong.
In December 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio denied plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction to pause the application of the 2021 Title X rule. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ legal challenges to the new HHS rule and the plaintiffs’ argument that the 2021 rule would cause irreparable harm. The plaintiffs appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
The brief establishes the coalition’s continued support of the 2021 HHS rule that restores the scope of federal grants under Title X, in part, by eliminating the harmful provisions of the 2019 Trump Administration rule — also known as the “gag rule.” The 2019 rule 1) imposed burdensome requirements for physical separation between all abortion and non-abortion services at any clinic that provided abortion services and 2) prohibited physicians from providing referrals to abortion providers, even when directly requested by the patient. By contrast, under HHS’s new 2021 rule, Title X funds can, once again, go to clinics that financially separate, but do not physically separate, non-abortion and abortion services, and that provide referrals to abortion providers at a patient’s request.
The brief argues that the Court of Appeals should reject the request of the plaintiff States to reverse the district court order and direct entry of a preliminary injunction halting the continued application of HHS’s 2021 rule. Plaintiffs’ proposed injunction would put patients and providers in harm’s way by returning to the 2019 Trump administration rule, which caused a dramatic loss of Title X providers and a substantial decrease in patient visits and Title X health care services provided. Underserved communities were especially impacted by the loss of essential care, particularly low-income individuals, minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, individuals living with disabilities, minors, and those living in rural areas.
The 2021 HHS rule allows these providers previously forced to leave the Title X program to now reenter the program. The 2021 rule also improves client outcomes by providing greater access to a wider range of health care services and promotes health equity by emphasizing efforts to reach underserved communities.
Joining Attorney General Tong in filing this brief led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta are the attorneys general of Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Assistant Attorney General Alma Nunley and Deputy Associate Attorney General Maura Murphy Osborne, Chief of the Special Litigation Section, assisted the Attorney General in this matter.
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