(The Center Square) – Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Monday to get back $4.5 million in Title X funding the administration clawed back because of the state’s abortion laws.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services diverted the money to the Missouri Family Health Council, which has plans to expand into Oklahoma.
But the funds cannot be used in “programs where abortion is a method of family planning,” according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
“Rather, sans authority, HHS seeks to punish Oklahoma for the policies adopted by Oklahoma’s elected representatives to protect unborn life,” the lawsuit states. “HHS is interfering with rights reserved to the people and their elected representatives despite a clear federal mandate that Title X funds should not be used in programs where abortion is offered as a method of family planning.”
The Oklahoma State Department of Health has received those funds since 1971, according to Oklahoma Health Commissioner Keith Reed. The money is used for various services besides family planning, including cancer and depression screening.
“In many instances, particularly in rural Oklahoma communities, the Health Department and county health departments may be one of the only access points for critical preventative services for tens or even hundreds of miles,” reads the lawsuit. “Some of these same rural communities may not have a grocery store, let alone the presence of a full-time health provider or women’s health provider,” the lawsuit said. “Thus, many of the patients the Health Department sees already have difficulty accessing the health care they need because of location, work schedules, and/or transportation issues. These communities are disproportionality impacted by lack of easy access to crucial health services, and that impact will grow as a result of HHS’s arbitrary and punitive action.”
Drummond called the move a federal overreach.
“The Biden Administration is intent on punishing Oklahoma because we do not share its liberal philosophy,” Drummond said. “It is patently discriminatory to deny Oklahoma these critical funds, particularly when federal law makes it clear that Title X cannot be used for abortion.”
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