Thanks to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granting a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration last week, Ohio will no longer be required to use Title X funds on organizations that commit abortions.
The ruling comes just over a year after Ohio and 12 other states filed suit to stop the HHS under President Biden’s directive from overturning the 2019 “Protect Life Rule.” The Rule in question required recipients of federal Title X funds “to maintain strict physical and financial separation between their Title X programs and any abortion-related services they might provide.” The rule insulated tax dollars from funding abortionists, preventing subversion of the Hyde Amendment.
In a 2-1 opinion in Ohio et al. v. Becerra et al., Judge Joan Larsen ruled that the Biden administration’s directive sidestepped the way Congress intended Title X funds to be used. Moreover, Judge Larsen agreed that Ohio demonstrated irreparable harm when the federal funds were used on the abortion giant.
“Before the 2019 Rule went into effect […] both the Ohio Department of Health and Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio received grants,” the Ohio Department of Health claimed in the suit. “After the 2019 Rule, Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio stopped participating in Title X, and the Ohio Department of Health received all of the funds that were allocated to grantees in Ohio.”
READ: Biden administration withholds millions in Title X funding over Tennessee’s abortion policy
But when the Biden administration overturned the Protect Life Rule and again directed money towards Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, the move took a considerable bite out of the state’s funds. “Due to the rule change, Ohio lost one-fifth of its Title X funding, an amount that it cannot get back.”
Judge Larsen agreed. “The causal link here is not obscure,” she wrote in her opinion.
Ohio’s Attorney General, David Yost, welcomed the court’s opinion. “Whatever your opinion on abortion as a moral matter,” Yost said in a statement, “the court vindicated Congress’ considered judgment that tax dollars should not fund programs that use abortion as a method of family planning.”
But the court’s opinion was more limited than many pro-lifers would like. The court granted the injunction exclusively to Ohio, saying that the other 11 states in the lawsuit did not submit financial data and thus did not prove irreparable harm. The court also left in place a provision allowing Title X funds to go to providers who refer for abortions.
Title X is a grant program for reproductive and family planning services enacted in 1970. It is also a major source of funding for Planned Parenthood. The abortion business receives approximately $60 million per year in Title X funding, one of its largest sources according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute. When the Protect Life Rule was initially announced, the organization withdrew from the program altogether rather than stop committing abortions.
Although the court’s ruling is good news for Ohio, abortion advocates are celebrating a limited win.
“This ruling is surprisingly good news, albeit with some unclear implications for Ohio and the network down the road,” said Clare Coleman of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), according to The Hill. “The bottom line is that today’s decision keeps the Biden administration’s rule fully in effect and has no immediate impact on the full network – that should bring welcome relief for patients and providers alike.”
