Over 20 Republican State AGs Threaten Action on Expansion of Abortion Funding

Libby | May 25, 2021
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More than 20 Republican state attorney generals threatened legal action in a letter to the Biden administration over the proposed expansion of tax-payer funded abortion.

The letter, addressed to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, was penned by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

The group of AGs are opposed to the April 15 proposed rule titled, “Ensuring Access to Equitable, Affordable, Client-Centered, Quality Family Planning Services,” because it would reverse a Trump-era change prohibiting abortion from being subsidized as a part of Title X family planning.

The Biden administration potential rule change would “allow Title X providers to refer their patients for all family planning related services desired by the client, including abortion services,” as explained in the text of the proposed rule on the Federal Register government website.

Yost wrote in the letter that late congressman Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), who was Title X’s principle sponsor, promised that “Programs which include abortion as a method of family planning are not eligible for funds allocated through this act,” a promise which the Biden administration seeks to walk back.

“Title X reflects a compromise,” the letter explained. “It funds services that large numbers of Americans support while withholding that funding from services that large numbers oppose. The Proposed Rule tramples that compromise, by intertwining family-planning services with the divisive issue of publicly funded abortions.”

In addition to their opposition of possible abortion subsidies, the Republican AGs called on Becerra to remove “culturally and linguistically appropriate services” and clarify “healthy equity,” both of which are included in the text of the proposed rule change.

Both of these inclusions, the AGs argue, could lead to discrimination, negative health consequences, or “put grantees in jeopardy of violating federal law.”

H/T: Daily Wire

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