Yost sues Biden administration over reversal of abortion referral ban

Ohio Attorney COLUMBUS — General Dave Yost and attorneys general from 11 other states sued the Biden admin- istration Monday, seeking to stop federal funds from going to clinics that offer abortion referrals.

The states filed suit in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati over recent rule changes to the Title X federal family plan- ning program. The lawsuit says the changes will cost Ohio millions of dollars, as it will have to share money with Planned Parenthood.

The change “will allow abortion providers like Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio to re-enter the program, meaning Ohio will face greater competition for Title X funding,” the lawsuit says.

Federal funds cannot be used to directly pay for abor- tions. The Title X program, rather, low-income Americans receive medical exams, contraceptive services and screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases.

Opponents of abortion have long said giving Title X money to Planned Parent- hood for those services indirectly supports the organization’s abortion procedures.

The lawsuit says Title X funds “offer a broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and services, including natural family planning methods, infertility services, and services for adolescents.”

In a statement, Yost said the lawsuit seeks to reinstate rule changes made in 2019 during the Trump administration. The rules required family-planning clinics to be independent of services that provided abortion and refuse to refer women for abortions.

Yost, in the statement, said the purpose “was to build walls to prevent the fund- ing of abortion with taxpayer money — which remains illegal.”

“You can’t ‘follow the money’ when all the money is dumped into one pot and mixed together,” Yost said.

Planned Parenthood fired back. In a statement, Lauren Blauvelt-Copelin, the vice president of government affairs and public advocacy, said Title X funding is crucial.

“Before the Trump administration decimated health- care access by implementing the gag rule, family planning centers in Ohio served more than 94,000 women and men in need of birth control, wellness exams and sex education,” Blauvelt-Copelin said.

“The lawsuit filed by Ohio Attorney General David Yost would deny people trying to access essential health care in the middle of a pandemic. Before the gag rule, Ohio was

one of fourteen states where Planned Parenthood served more than 50% of the state’s Title X patients.

“David Yost’s attack on essential health care is yet another way he is playing politics and deserting the people of Ohio. Planned Par- enthood is ready to re-enter Title X and provide patients with the comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care they deserve.”

But Yost’s lawsuit says that agency was a hindrance to the state, saying that “once Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio left the program, Ohio applied for and received more than $4 million in additional Title X funds.”

Soon after taking office in January, President Joe Biden ordered a review of the Trump-era rule changes. The change to Title X funding was one of the items the Biden administration reversed.

Yost and other attorneys general from 18 states sent a letter in May, urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, warning of what the reversal could do.

In court Monday, attorneys from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia also joined in Yost’s lawsuit.

Federal attorneys are expected to respond to the case in the coming weeks. It is before U.S. District Judge Timothy Black.