States sue Trump over obstacles to family planning grants

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

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A coalition of 23 states sued the Trump administration in Maryland federal court over a Department of Health and Human Services overhaul of Title X family planning grants for fiscal 2027. The new funding notice judges applicants partly on compliance with priorities including opposing 'overmedicalization' of hormonal contraception, rejecting DEI policies, and declining to acknowledge transgender identities — with noncompliance risking total loss of grant funds.

State attorneys general, led by New York's Letitia James, argue the conditions were imposed arbitrarily under the Administrative Procedure Act and warn that funding shortfalls will force clinic closures states can't fully backfill. HHS declined to comment on the pending litigation.

This marks a repeat fight: Trump's first term saw similar Title X restrictions in 2019, challenged by 21 states before the Biden administration rescinded the rule in 2021 ahead of a Supreme Court ruling. James, noting she's now fought this battle multiple times, said the administration 'may think the eighth time will be the charm.'

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A federal grant program meant to fund contraception access is being retooled around ideological box-checking, which is a curious way to make healthcare more accessible. If the administration loses this the same way it lost the last version, it will at least have generated a robust legal paper trail of trying the identical thing twice.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Onion Capers · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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