Oklahoma's Effort To Reclaim $4.5M in Federal Grant Funding Falls Short After Supreme Court Denial

Oklahoma’s effort to reclaim more than $4 million in federal grant funding, stripped away because of the state’s stance on abortion, has come up short.

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday denied the state’s emergency request to stop the Biden administration from diverting the funding elsewhere while a legal challenge plays out in lower courts.

This legal wrangling is rooted in the historic 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned to the states the responsibility to regulate abortion. In Oklahoma, Dobbs triggered a near-total ban on abortion and a prohibition on helping someone get an abortion.

The Title X grant money in question, however, is conditioned on states offering pregnant women counseling on prenatal care, adoption, and abortion.

Oklahoma argued it could no longer comply with the abortion counseling requirement because it would violate state law.

Officials with the federal Department of Health and Human Services proposed a compromise: provide patients with the number to a national hotline. Oklahoma declined.

In response, HHS diverted the $4.5 million in grant funding that would have gone to Oklahoma's family planning programs.

The state is challenging the termination of the grant in district court but in August, after being rejected in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, asked the Supreme Court for an emergency injunction.

The brief order released by the Court Tuesday did not detail the court’s reasoning for denying the request, which is not unusual., but did say three justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — sided with Oklahoma.

“While the denial is obviously disappointing,” said a spokesman for Attorney General Gentner Drummond today, “he is pleased that three Supreme Court justices were willing to step in and stop the Biden Administration’s lawless overreach at this preliminary juncture. We will be exploring our options moving forward.”

Oklahoma's most outspoken anti-abortion member of Congress, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), also weighed in, saying in a statement: “This Administration uses essential Title X funding for AIDS testing and breast cancer screening as a hostage unless Oklahoma promotes abortion, in direct violation of federal and state law. That's why I introduced a bill to ensure states like Oklahoma can protect life without losing critical health care funding.”

Sen. Lankford introduced the bill, The Prevent Discrimination in Title X Act, last summer. It was assigned to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.